Design of a silicon-based plasmonic optical sensor for magnetic field monitoring in the infrared

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor chip is proposed for magnetic field monitoring in the infrared wavelength region. The structure is based on silicon substrate and gold as SPR-active metal used with an appropriate magnetic fluid film. The angular interrogation method has been used to study the sensor’s performance in terms of large shift and small width of the SPR curve for a wide range of magnetic field between 30 and 220 Oe. The effect of field incidence angle is also studied on the proposed sensor’s performance, and it is observed that the field should be incident as parallel to the magnetic fluid surface as possible. Any possibility of oxidation problem to the proposed SPR sensor is addressed by using a stable buffer layer. All the performance parameters were found to be significantly large for the above field incidence condition. The proposed sensor is able to achieve a resolution of the order as high as 0.18 Oe for magnetic field detection.