A multimode fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance （SPR） sensor with a MgF2 film as a modulated layer is studied. The fiber-optic SPR sensor is investigated theoretically, specifically the influence of the dielectric protecting layer, using a four-layer model. The sensor is then fabricated with the optimal parameters suggested by the theoretical simulation. The sensor has a high sensitivity in the analyte refractive index （RI） range of 1.33-1.40. The best sensitivity of 4 464 nm/RIU is achieved in the experiment. The use of dielectric film （MgF2） can not only modulate the resonance wavelength of the sensor, but also protect the silver film from oxidation.
We study the sensing properties of an intensity-modulated fiber-optic surface plasmon resonance （SPR） sensor using radially polarized beam （RPB）. Because of the rotational symmetry of fiber and RPB, surface plasmon can be excited more efficiently at the sensor surface, which results in an obvious improvement of the sensitivity. Our experiments demonstrate that the sensitivity in the case of RPB illumination is three times higher than that of linearlv polarized beam illumination.
The effects of temperature on a surface plasmon studied experimentally and theoretically. SPR resonance （SPR） sensor in Kretschmann configuration are experiments are carried out over a temperature range of 278- 313 K in steps of 5 K. A detailed theoretical model is provided to analyze the variation of performance with varying temperature of the sensing environment. The temperature dependence of the properties of the metal, dielectric, and analyte are studied, respectively. The numerical results indicate that the predictions of the theoretical model are well consistent with the experiment data.
