Nanoporous leaky waveguide based chemical and biological sensors with broadband spectroscopy

Here the authors demonstrate spectral optical chemical and biological sensors based on a nanoporous thin-film leaky waveguide that were fabricated by dip coating the gold-layer-covered glass substrate from the colloidal TiO2 solution. The sensor operates by interrogating the resonance wavelengths for the leaky modes in a broad bandwidth using the Kretschmann configuration. Sensitivities of the sensor to refractive index of liquid and protein adsorption were investigated and compared with the spectral surface plasmon resonance sensors. The best fitting to the experimental data was carried out with the Fresnel equations, and thickness and porosity of the nanoporous waveguiding layer were determined.