Side-polished multimode fiber biosensor based on surface plasmon resonance with halogen light.

A side-polished multimode fiber sensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) as the transducing element with a halogen light source is proposed. The SPR fiber sensor is side polished until half the core is closed and coated with a 37 nm gold thin film by dc sputtering. The SPR curve on the optical spectrum is described by an optical spectrum analyzer and can sense a range of widths in wavelengths of SPR effects. The measurement system using the halogen light source is constructed for several real-time detections that are carried out for the measurement of the index liquid detections for the sensitivity analysis. The sensing fiber is demonstrated with a series of refractive index (RI) liquids and set for several experiments, including the stability, repeatability, and resolution calibration. The results for the halogen light source with the resolution of the measurement based on wavelength interrogation were 3 x 10(-6) refractive index units (RIUs). The SPR dip shifted in wavelength is used as a measure of the RI change at a surface, and this RI change varies directly with the number of biomolecules at the surface. The SPR dip shift in wavelength, which was hybridized at 0.1 microM of the target DNA to the probe DNA, was 8.66 nm. The all-fiber multimode SPR sensor, which has the advantages of being low cost, being disposable, having high stability and linearity, being free of labeling, and having potential for real-time detection, permit the sensor and system to be used in biochemical sensing and environmental monitoring.