FDTD modeling in the design of optical chemical sensor structures

The FDTD (finite-difference time-domain) method was applied to the analysis of excitation and emission as well as to optimization of the design of planar waveguide fluorescence sensors. The local protein environment of fluorescent sources has been taken in account, which has been shown to be very important in integrating the optical and chemical design of such sensor structures. The authors describe the major aspects of modeling these structures and present the results of optimization of waveguides for immunochemical fluorosensors. The results obtained indicate good agreement with previously developed numerical methods in obtaining the electric fields of propagating modes in waveguides.<>