Metal-insulator-metal waveguide-based optical pressure sensor embedded with arrays of silver nanorods.

An optical Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) pressure sensor loaded with arrays of silver nanorods (NRs) is proposed in this article. The illustrated sensor contains a straight waveguide coupled with a ladder-shaped resonator. The spectral profile of the proposed schematic is numerically analyzed utilizing the 2D Finite Element Method (FEM). When pressure is exerted upon the silver layer, the resonating area deforms and shifts the resonant wavelength. Extensive computations demonstrate that increasing the deformation shifts the resonant wavelength to the right, establishing a linear relationship. The suggested structure reports maximum pressure sensitivity of 25.4 nm/MPa. Moreover, the impact of NRs on pressure sensitivity is extensively investigated and the results indicate that the designed layout is sensitive to the size and radius of NRs, making it highly tunable. All these features make the modeled prototype a promising nanoscale solution in different fields of engineering.

Cog-shaped refractive index sensor embedded with gold nanorods for temperature sensing of multiple analytes.

This article presents a refractive index (RI) nanosensor utilizing gold as the plasmonic material. The layout of the sensor includes metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides coupled with a cog-shaped resonator studded with gold nanorods. At the mid-infrared (MIR) spectrum, the spectral characteristics of the sensor are numerically analyzed employing the finite element method (FEM). Moreover, the refractive index sensing property is thoroughly explored by varying the key parameters, establishing a linear correlation with the transmittance profile. After extensive simulations, the most optimum structure displays the highest sensitivity of 6227.6 nm/RIU. Furthermore, the capability of the proposed device as a temperature sensor is investigated with five different liquids (ethanol, polydimethylsiloxane, toluene, chloroform, and the mixture of toluene and chloroform); among these, chloroform exhibits maximum temperature sensitivity of 6.66 nm/°C. Due to being chemically stable and demonstrating satisfactory performance in RI and temperature sensing, the suggested schematic can be a suitable replacement for silver-based sensors.