Experimental determination of the sensitivity of Bloch Surface Waves based sensors

Detection of glucose in water solution for several different concentrations has been performed with the purpose to determine the sensitivity of Near Infrared Bloch Surface Waves (lambda = 1.55 mu m) upon refractive index variations of the outer medium. TE-polarized electromagnetic surface waves are excited by a prism on a silicon nitride multilayer, according to the Kretschmann configuration. The real-time reflectance changes induced by discrete variations in glucose concentration has been revealed and analyzed. Without using any particular averaging strategy during the measurements, we pushed the device detection limit down to a glucose concentration of 2.5mg/dL, corresponding to a minimum detectable refractive index variation of the water solution as low as 3.8.10(-6). (c) 2010 Optical Society of America