Chemical deposition of silver for the fabrication of surface plasmon microstructured optical fibre sensor

Abstract

We examine the Tollens reaction, a simple chemical coating method, with the more commonly used RF sputtering technique for use in creating surfaces suitable for sensing applications based on the use of surface Plasmon resonance. Experimentation has shown that these two surfaces produce simular SPR signals, and therefore that this is a viable method for the coating of the interior of a microstructure fibre. This technique was applied to a microstructure fibre and a 60nm silver layer is produced. This is the first step towards the realisation of a SPR microstructure fibre sensor.