Cost-effective enhancement of SPR performance via spectral shaping techniques

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technology has been widely applied in various fields, such as biosensing, environmental monitoring, food safety, and drug screening. However, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of SPR sensors varies with wavelength and greatly affects their performance due to the fact that optics and sensors work differently for varying wavelengths of light. To address this issue, this paper proposes a simple and effective spectral shaping method based on a multi-field-of-view spectrometer combined with a mask. The amount of light received by the sensor is controlled by the mask, which provides uniform spectral intensity at different wavelengths of the SPR and improves the consistency of measurement accuracy. The results show that the spectral shaping method using the mask can reduce the difference in SNR at different resonance wavelengths by about 70% and reduce the difference in measurement accuracy by about 85%. Moreover, the method is expected to facilitate the wider application of SPR technology in more fields due to its low cost and positive effects.