FTMC Team’s Research on Advanced Sensor Featured on the Cover of Advanced Materials Technologies

Physicists Kernius Vilkevičius and Dr Evaldas Stankevičius from the FTMC Department of Laser Technologies, together with Tomas Rakickas, a researcher at the FTMC Department of Nanoengineering, have published an article that has been featured on the cover of the prestigious journal Advanced Materials Technologies.

A year ago, the Lithuanian team, working in collaboration with the company OPTOMAN, developed an exceptionally sensitive device – a hybrid plasmonic sensor – using advanced laser technologies, and have since analyzed its performance. The sensor consists of microscopic gold and silver bumps. The surface of this structure, depicted on the journal’s cover, responds efficiently to changes in refractive index of the medium (which indicates how light or other electromagnetic waves propagate through a material).

As a result, the FTMC-developed device is an excellent tool for measuring small concentrations of a wide range of molecules, as well as for use in environmental monitoring or chemical analysis.

“In the paper, we conducted an in-depth study to evaluate the sensitivity, stability, and repeatability of the sensor fabricated by direct laser writing. We also compared the parameters of the developed sensor with those of pure gold and silver gratings possessing similar characteristics,” explains one of the paper’s authors, Dr Stankevičius.

The study revealed that this plasmonic sensing platform can detect environmental changes with exceptional precision: its sensitivity reaches up to 933 nm/RIU, and the figure of merit is as high as 57 RIU⁻¹. In other words, these figures show that the sensor is capable of detecting even the slightest variations while providing a clear and reliable signal.

Read more about the hybrid plasmonic sensor by following this link.

Info: FTMC