Numerical Analysis of Sensitivity Enhancement of Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensors Using a Mirrored Bilayer Structure

Abstract: A mirrored bilayer structure incorporating layers of Graphene and MoS2 is proposed here for Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) biosensing and its performance is evaluated numerically. Starting from the basic configuration, the structure with graphene and MoS2 layers is gradually developed for enhanced performance. Reflectance is the main considered parameter for performance analysis. A theoretical framework based on Fresnel's equations is presented and by measuring reflectance versus angle of incidence, sensitivity is calculated from the displacement of SPR angle using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique. Our numerical analysis shows that using the proposed approach, about 4.2 times enhanced sensitivity can be achieved compared to the basic Kretschmann configuration. Notably, the structure provides an enhancement for both angular and wavelength interrogations. Furthermore, simulations have been repeated for various ligate-ligand pairs and consistent enhancement has been observed which proves the robustness of the structure. So, the proposed sensor architecture clearly provides pronounced improvement in sensitivity which can be significant in various practical applications.