Introduction

The invention is aimed to detect plasmons in an efficient way. It relates to a strip-shaped waveguide of material adapted to propagate a plasmon when excited by an incident beam of light, said waveguide being adapted to guide the plasmon along its length direction. It can have application as sensor in the biomedical sector. It also can be used in the chemical sector as sensor for both organic and inorganic chemical compounds and as sensor of the environmental contamination

Technical features

The operation of this detector is based on the non-linearity of graphene’s response to electric fields and should present significant advantages over currently available technologies, based on the coupling of a light detector with the waveguide. When a plasmon is generated at the tip and crosses the waveguide, a potential difference is signaled between the side contacts and the reference contact. By measuring this potential difference it is possible to infer whether a plasmon is propagating in the guide.

Possible Applications

• Biomedical and nanomedicine sensors;
• Environmental sensors;
• Electromagnetic waves detector (frequencies around TeraHertz);
• Homeland security, in particular body scanner;
• GMP (good manufacturing practice) in pharma industry.

Advantages

• Efficient detection of plasmons.