Application of white light-emitting diode to surface plasmon resonance sensors

In this paper, we show that white light-emitting diode (white LED) is a viable light source for replacing the commonly-used halogen lamp in spectral surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors. We have constructed an experimental setup and results obtained from glycerin–water mixtures clearly demonstrate the systems capability in resolving the shift in the SPR dip caused by a change in the glycerin concentration. The use of white LED has the obvious benefits of direct modulation, low cost, long operation lifetime, robustness and small size. These are important pre-requisites for future commercialization of the SPR sensing technology.