Surface plasmon resonance imaging of microstructured monolayers

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is one of the most sensitive detection meth ods for changes of thickness and refractive index in ultra-thin films. We d eveloped a SPR imaging system in order to characterise patterned organic mo nolayers, a basic commodity for the development of biochemical sensor array s. The SPR image contrast could be enhanced by chemical modifications of th e patterned monolayers. High quality SPR images of microstuctured monolayer s were obtained. The lateral resolution achieved by an SPR imaging device w ith a HeNe laser source and a Kretschmann ATR prism coupler is 2 mu m. The potential of SPR imaging consists in the in-situ investigations of smallest changes in individual elements of arrays of the patterned ultra-thin film. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.