Development of surface plasmon resonance sensor with enhanced sensitivity for low refractive index detection

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have emerged as powerful tools for detecting and analyzing changes in the refractive index (RI) of surrounding media. In this paper, we present a highly sensitive SPR sensor implemented on a graphene metasurface for the detection of low RI variations. We have incorporated glass structure as the substrate in the sensor design. Glass provides a stable and rigid substrate for the creation of the graphene metasurface. It ensures the mechanical support of the sensor and serves as a solid foundation for the subsequent fabrication steps. The results demonstrate remarkable performance characteristics of the proposed graphene metasurface sensor. The maximum sensitivity and detection limit achieved by the sensor are 1100 GHz/RIU and 0.391 RIU−1, respectively. Furthermore, the corresponding sensor resolutions and FOM are determined to be 0.453 and 3.832 RIU−1, respectively. Such high resolutions ensure accurate and precise measurement of even subtle changes in the refractive index.