Abstract

Aluminum Nitride (AlN) substrate possesses noble physical and optical properties at large ranges of wavelength and temperature. A new design of AlN-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor for investigation of the saline water temperature is proposed. Recent experimental results describing variation of refractive index of AlN with wavelength and temperature are considered for theoretical calculations. The angular interrogation method along with thermo-optic effect in metal and dielectric media is considered. The sensor’s performance is closely analyzed in terms of well-defined performance indicators in order to achieve reliable and accurate sensing performance. The influence of operating wavelength on the performance of temperature sensor is investigated. The proposed AlN-based temperature sensor has the capability to provide high performance. The stability of AlN at higher temperature is another advantage that contributes to precise measurements even at higher temperatures with AlN-based SPR sensor. High refractive index of AlN with SPR can make it a potential candidate for infrared sensing.

© 2016 Optical Society of America