Ultra-high sensitivity sensing based on ultraviolet plasmonic enhancements in semiconductor triangular prism meta-antenna systems

Silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), and gallium arsenide (GaAs) are familiar semiconductors that always act in the role of optical dielectrics. However, these semiconductors also have plasmonic behaviors in ultraviolet (UV) ranges due to the strong interband transitions or valence electrons. And few studies are aimed at investigating plasmonic properties in the semiconductor at the nanoscale. In this work, we discuss UV plasmonics and sensing properties in single and dimer Si, Ge, and GaAs triangular prism meta-antenna systems. The results show that obvious local surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) can be realized in the proposed triangular prism meta-antennas, and the resonant wavelength, electromagnetic field distribution, surface charge distribution, and surface current density can be effectively tuned by structural and material parameters. In addition, we also find that the Si triangular prism meta-antenna shows more intense plasmonic responses in UV ranges than that in the Ge or GaAs triangular prism nanostructures. Especially, the phase difference between the triangular prism nanostructure and light source can effectively regulate the symbol and value of the surface charge. Moreover, the great enhancement of electric field can be seen in the dimer triangular prism meta-antennas when the distance of the gap is g<5 nm, especially g=1 nm. The most interesting result is that the maximum of refractive index sensitivity s and figure of merit (FoM) are greatly enlarged in dimer triangular prism meta-antennas. Particularly, the sensitivity can reach up to 215 nm/RIU in the dimer GaAs triangular prism meta-antennas, which is improved more than one order of magnitude. These research results may play important roles in applications of the photo detecting, plasmonic sensing and disinfecting in UV ranges. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement