Design and optimization of the silver nanograting structure utilizing surface plasmon-polariton for increase of SERS sensor response

This paper reports on the design of the surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) structures that were optimized through computation and simulation to obtain the best enhancement of the surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) response on these structures. The structure of the silver nano-grating was designed, fabricated, optimized and measured. The enhancement factor and the increase in the absorption capabilities associated with SPP were evaluated. The rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computational/simulation methods were utilized. The comparison between the computation simulation outputs and the measured outputs of the fabricated samples was performed.