Nanopillar array on a fiber facet for highly sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering

作者：Xuan Yang, Nazar İleri, Cindy Larson, Thomas C. Carlson, Jerald A. Britten, Allan Chang, Claire Gu, Tiziana Bond · 发表于：Optics Express · 年份：2012 · DOI：10.1364/oe.20.024819 · 被引用次数：80 · 研究领域：Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Synthesis and Applications、Biosensors and Analytical Detection、Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research

A highly-sensitive optical fiber surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensor has been developed by interference lithography. While one facet of the optical fiber is patterned with silver-coated nanopillar array as a SERS platform, the other end of the probe is used, in a remote end detection, to couple the excitation laser into the fiber and send the SERS signal to the spectrometer. SERS performance of the probe is characterized using trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)-ethylene (BPE) monolayer and an enhancement factor of 1.2 × 10(7) can be achieved by focusing the laser directly onto the nanopillar array (front end detection). We also demonstrate that this probe can be used for in situ remote sensing of toluene vapor by the remote end detection. Such a fiber SERS probe shows great potential for molecular detection in various sensing applications.