Improved plasmonic resonance by Gaussian beam shaping

Abstract

This work demonstrates a novel strategy to improve the sensitivity of a prism-coupled surface plasmon resonance system by Gaussian beam shaping. Shaping of the laser beam and precise alignment of the beam waist at the metal-dielectric interface renders a collimated incident beam that leads to a stronger and sharper plasmonic resonance. In the present case, beam shaping improved the sensitivity for determining the concentration of an analyte by almost 90 %.