Optimization of 3D Plasmonic Crystal Structures for Refractive Index Sensing

We study the refractive index sensitive transmission of a 3D plasmonic crystal that consists of a square array of subwavelength cylindrical nanowells in a polymer conformally coated with a gold film. Using extensive 3D finite-difference time-domain simulations, we investigate the effect of system parameters such as periodicity, well diameter and depth, and metal thickness on its refractive index sensitivity. These theoretical results are also confirmed experimentally in some cases. Our calculations predict an enhancement in sensitivity by an order of magnitude when the plasmonic crystal characteristics are optimized.