Selective ultrasensitive optical fiber nanosensors based on plasmon resonance energy transfer

Abstract

The facet of optical fibers coated with nanostructures enable the development of ultraminiature and sensitive (bio)chemical sensors. The reported sensors until now lack of specificity and the fabrication methods offer poor reproducibility. Here, we demonstrate that by transforming the facet of conventional multimode optical fibers onto plasmon resonance energy transfer (PRET) antenna surfaces the specificity issues may be overcome. To do so, a low cost chemical approach was developed to immobilize gold nanoparticles on the optical fiber facet in a reproducible and controlled manner. Our nanosensors are highly selective as PRET is a nanospectroscopic effect that only occurs when the resonant wavelength of the nanoparticles matches that of the target parameter. As an example, we demonstrate the selective detection of picomolar concentrations of copper ions in water. Our sensor is 1,000 times more sensitive than state of the art technologies. An additional advantage of our nanosensors is their simple interrogation; it comprises of a low-power light emitting diode, a multimode optical fiber coupler, and a miniature spectrometer. We believe that the PRET-based fiber optic platform reported here may pave the way of the development of a new generation of ultra-miniature, portable, and hypersensitive and selective (bio)chemical sensors.