Plasmonic refractive index sensor based on the combination of rectangular and circular resonators including baffles

Abstract We numerically designed a plasmonic refractive index sensor with high sensitivity and tunable optical feature based on two metal-insulator-metal bus waveguides connecting with the central-coupled rectangular and circular ring resonators, including silver (Ag) baffles. In the design process, Ag baffles' influence on transmittance spectrum, magnetic and electric field distributions, surface power flow intensity, energy streamlines, and sensor performance are investigated using the finite element method. The proposed structure can use as a high precision plasmonic refractive index sensor for refractive index in the increment range of 0.01. The maximum sensitivity can reach 3400 nm/RIU (RIU is a refractive index unit), which remarkably increases the sensitivity of 1.36 times compared to the case without Ag baffles. Besides, the figure of merit and quality factor can achieve 36.00 and 42.28, respectively. The sensitivity and figure of merit can be increased by adding the Ag baffles in the proposed plasmonic sensor system, generating an additional gap plasmon resonance mode that cannot find in a typical case.