REU Supplement: Self-Referenced SPR Sensing using Multiple Surface-Plasmon Modes

We propose a REU supplement to NSF award #0601351 entitled "Self-Referenced SPR Sensing using Multiple Surface-Plasmon Modes." The proposed REU supplement enhances the intellectual merit of the current award by utilizing an undergraduate researcher's talents to develop new deposition techniques for low refractive index polymer films. Such films are required for long-range surface-plasmon propagation along thin metal films sandwiched between the low index polymer layer and a liquid analyte. New film deposition techniques will allow us to optimize self-referencing SPR sensors for a wide variety of analyte indices. The REU supplement will enhance the broader impact of the work by exposing an especially promising undergraduate student to interdisciplinary research involving micro- and nano- fabrication, photonics, and bio-chemical sensing. The student will interact with faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers from both electrical engineering and chemistry. In addition, the REU project will enhance geographic diversity because the pre-selected participant hails from one of Kentucky's Appalachian counties. Students ITom the Appalachian region of the U.S. remain underrepresented in science and engineering and in higher education in general.