Metal-insulator-metal waveguide based plasmonic sensors: Fantasy or
truth- A critical review
Abstract
There is a hysteria over plasmonic sensors based on
Metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides and researchers around the globe
are extensively studying these devices over the past two decades for
diverse sensing applications for instance temperature, refractive index,
pressure, and biochemical applications among others. The sensors based
on MIM waveguides (WGs) are compact and offer unmatchable sensitivity as
assessed with dielectric waveguide-based sensors along with an
extraordinary figure of merits ( FOM). However, the major concern
is that most of these sensors are only numerically simulated/analyzed
and there is no experimental demonstration accessible to date.
Therefore, in this mini-review, these highly alluring sensor designs are
critically analyzed to identify if they are practically feasible or just
a fantasy among the scientific community.