Dual-truncated-cone structure for quasi-distributed multichannel fiber surface plasmon resonance sensor

We propose and demonstrate an effective method to adjust the dynamic range of a fiber surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor by introducing a multimode fiber-sensing probe with a dual-truncated-cone (DTC) structure. When the grind angle of the DTC structure increases, the dynamic range redshifts. Based on this result, we fabricate a quasidistributed two-channel multimode fiber SPR sensor by cascaded-connecting a DTC-sensing probe of 14 degrees grind angle and a traditional transmitted multimode fiber (TMF)sensing probe in the same fiber. The corresponding sensitivities of two sensing probes are 3423.08 nm/RIU and 2288.46 nm/RIU. By using this quasi-distributed multichannel fiber SPR-sensing approach, we may improve the detecting accuracy by extracting, calibrating, and compensating for the signals caused by the nonspecific bindings, other physical absorptions, and temperature changes in detecting samples, truly achieving dynamic detection in real-time. The excellence of this multichannel fiber SPR sensor is that the sensitivity of each subchannel-sensing probe stays unreduced after it is cascaded-connected in the main-channel fiber; the sensor is based on the multi-mode fiber, which is inexpensive, accessible, and convenient to be universalized in applications. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America