Effect of constructional parameters on the performance of a surface plasmon resonance sensor based on a multimode polymer optical fiber.

We experimentally studied the influence of different constructional parameters on the performance of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors based on a commercially available polymer step-index multimode fiber. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we experimentally investigated the influence of polishing depth on the characteristics of SPR sensors based on a straight multimode fiber. We also examined the impact of sensing length on the spectral position and strength of the SPR in side-polished straight fibers. To clarify literature contradictions concerning the effect of fiber bending on SPR, we experimentally investigated the performance of U-bent SPR sensing probes based on multimode fibers. We have shown that the SPR can be significantly amplified by bending the polymer fiber with stripped cladding. We also demonstrated that the side-polishing of U-bent sensing probes has little impact on their performance.