Spectral characterization of mid-infrared Bloch Surface Waves excited on a truncated 1D photonic crystal

The many fundamental roto-vibrational resonances of chemical compounds result in strong absorption lines in the mid-infrared region (λ ∼ 2–20 μm). For this reason, mid-infrared spectroscopy plays a key role in label-free sensing, in particular, for chemical recognition, but often lacks the required sensitivity to probe small numbers of molecules. In this work, we propose a vibrational sensing scheme based on Bloch surface waves (BSWs) on 1D photonic crystals to increase the sensitivity of mid-infrared sensors. We report on the design and deposition of CaF2/ZnS 1D photonic crystals. Moreover, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate the possibility to sustain narrow σ-polarized BSW modes together with broader π-polarized modes in the range of 3–8 μm by means of a customized Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy setup. The multilayer stacks are deposited directly on CaF2 prisms, reducing the number of unnecessary interfaces when exciting in the Kretschmann–Raether configuration. Finally, we compare the performance of mid-IR sensors based on surface plasmon polaritons with the BSW-based sensor. The figures of merit found for BSWs in terms of confinement of the electromagnetic field and propagation length puts them as forefrontrunners for label-free and polarization-dependent sensing devices.