Effect of metamaterial layer on optical surface plasmon resonance sensor

In this paper an optical surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with metamaterial for four and five layered structure is studied. The numerical results presented in this paper leads to a significant properties of metamaterials in sensing field. Computed results of SPR sensors using metamaterial are compared with conventional optical SPR sensors for four and five layered structure. It is seen that wider dynamic range or effective range of measurable refractive index increases when metamaterial layer is used. It is also verified that SPR sensor with metamaterial layer can dramatically enhance the resolution and reduce the reflectivity compared with conventional SPR. Validity of the magnetic field results is proved on the basis of smooth match of the fields in the different layers of the proposed optical SPR sensor. (C) 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.