| This thesis presents a novel micron-sized trapezoidal plasmonic waveguide design, called an Interface Plasmon Polariton waveguide. The guiding mechanism is explained using an effective index method and validated by simulations. The mode cut-off conditions and single-mode guiding properties are both determined using simulation and experimentally demonstrated. The waveguides have a long 1 mm propagation distance at 1550 nm wavelengths.;Using this IPP waveguide, novel dielectric rib, dielectric varying-density hole-array, and metal-groove Bragg grating in vitro sensors are designed, fabricated, and characterized. The devices have a 1100 nm/RIU sensitivity and 0.006 RIU sensing resolution obtained from measurements and are validated by theory. The IPP sensors developed in this thesis not only offer competitive plasmonic sensitivity, sensing resolution, signal to noise ratio, result reproducibility, and reusability, they are also easy to fabricate and simple to package. Therefore, these new sensor designs are an enabler for lab-on-a-chip platforms to adapt plasmonic technology. |
