Ultrasensitive nanoplasmonic biosensor based on interferometric excitation of multipolar plasmonic modes.

We propose a nanoplasmonic interferometric biosensor, which exploits the selective excitation of multipolar plasmonic modes in a nanoslit to provide a novel scheme for highly-sensitive biosensing. In this design, two counter-propagating surface plasmon polaritons interfere at the location of the nanoslit, selectively exciting the dipolar and quadrupolar modes of the structure depending on the phase relationship induced by the analyte. The contrasting radiation patterns produced by these modes result in large changes in the angular distribution of the transmitted light that depends on the analyte concentration. The resultant far-field is numerically modeled and the sensing performance of the structure is assessed, resulting in maximum bulk and surface sensitivities of S = 1.12 × 10 deg/RIU and S = 302 deg/RIU, respectively, and a bulk-sensing resolution of the order of 10 RIU. The design allows ample control over the trade-off between operating range and resolution through the slit's width, making this platform suitable for a broad range of sensing requirements.