AMBROSIA-eu
Published October 10, 2025 | Version v1
Publication Open

Improving Limit-of-Detection in High-Sensitivity Plasmo-Photonic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Refractive Index Sensors

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Department of Informatics Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki, Greece
  • 2. Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation (CIRI-AUTH) Balkan Center Buildings A & B, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • 3. Department of Physics Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki, Greece
  • 4. LIGENTEC SA, EPFL Innovation Park, Ecublens, Switzerland
  • 5. Photonic Department, ICB UMR 6303, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
  • 6. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

Description

This work presents a dual plasmo-photonic branch Mach-Zehnder interferometer refractive index sensor integrated on a Si3N4 platform, with both the sensor and reference arms hosting identical aluminum plasmonic metal stripes. Experimental evaluation of the configuration reveals a bulk sensitivity up to 8801 nm/RIU and an increased environmental noise resilience compared to state-of-the-art plasmo-photonicMZI sensorswith the
plasmonic section residing only on the sensor arm. The enhanced noise resilience along with the high sensitivity results in an experimentally obtained low detection limit value of 4.4 × 10−6 RIU, im-proved by an order of magnitude compared to the detection limit of 5×10−5 RIU that was measured in a reference MZI sensor with a plasmonic stripe only at its sensor arm.

Files

Improving_Limit-of-Detection_in_High-Sensitivity_Plasmo-Photonic_Mach-Zehnder_Interferometer_Refractive_Index_Sensors.pdf

Files (4.6 MB)

Additional details

Dates

Available
2025-08-11