Improving surface plasmon resonance sensor performance using critical-angle compensation

The sensing range of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) refractometry is greater than the thickness of most thin films of interest. Therefore, an SPR sensor will also respond to changes in the refractive index (RI) of the bulk analyte adjacent to the thin film, caused for instance by variations in analyte composition or temperature. These changes in bulk RI degrade the quality of SPR sensing data. One solution to this problem is simultaneously to measure both the SPR response and the bulk RI of the analyte and correct the SPR response for bulk RI variations. We present a simple implementation of this approach which uses critical angle refractometry. Our sensor is based on Texas Instruments' SpreetaTM SPR sensor. The gold is removed from the portion of the sensor surface which corresponds to angles less than the critical angle. The modified sensor delivers a composite spectrum which may be used for measurements of both the critical angle edge and the SPR dip. Theory of critical angle compensation is presented, and calibration and data analysis issues are outlined. Critical angle compensation for temperature and concentration induced bulk RI changes is demonstrated in detergent adsorption and antibody binding experiments.