Open research questions in Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research
138 gap statements mined from Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 1,245 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.
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What the literature leaves open
The lack of all-metal plasmonic architectures for dual-peak ratiometric RI sensing. The need for additional functional materials or multilayer photonic structures to generate dual-peak response in conventional plasmonic sensors. The scarcity of compact and scalable platforms for refractive-index sensing.
The need to prevent direct electron tunnelling between the top and the bottom gold electrodes. The requirement for a suitable dielectric environment to optimise the helicoid chiral response. The challenge of achieving a strong chiral response in the emitted light.
The gap is related to the lack of theoretical demonstration of the merging of accidental BICs in perturbed all-silicon PhC slabs.
Merging of Accidental Bound States in the Continuum in Symmetry and Symmetry-Broken Terahertz Photonic Crystal Slabs · 2025 · DOIThe need for optimization of the SPR sensor for specific analyte sensing. The lack of a comprehensive approach for analyzing the optical response of the SPR structure. The potential for improvement in refractive index sensitivity and figure of merit.
Thickness and Wavelength Optimizations of a High-Performance SPR Sensor Employing a Silver Layer and Black Phosphorus in Principal Directions · 2025 · DOIHowever, for all coherent fields operating resonantly in the system, the exact extent to which perfect EIT is effective in establishing coupler-free SPP excitation has not yet been well examined.
Deterministic control of surface plasmon polariton excitation at the metal–atom interface via off-resonant light–matter interaction in a non-ideal EIT medium · 2026 · DOIFuture research can focus on experimental validation of the proposed method. Future research can focus on extending the method to other application domains, such as biomedical imaging. Future research can focus on improving the resolution and accuracy of the method.
The gap is that traditional methods require multiple emitters-receivers and are highly unstable, making it difficult to recover low contrasting permittivity functions. The gap is that prior work has not proposed a method using plasmonic nanoparticles as contrast agents for quantitative optical imaging.
The study is based on simulations, rather than experimental results. The optimization is limited to a specific set of parameters. The study does not address the scalability of the optimized design.
Morphology-Driven optimization of Double Nanohole-based Plasmonic Optical Tweezers · 2026The relatively limited piezoelectric and nonlinear optical coefficients of pure AlN restrict its application in high-performance devices. There is a need to enhance the material's properties while retaining its excellent structural integrity.
Structural and Multispectral Characterization of AlScN Thin Films for Quasi-BIC Metasurface Sensors · 2026 · DOIThe need for improved sensitivity and selectivity in SPR biosensors. The lack of a quantitative foundation for analyzing the efficacy and credibility of SPR sensors. The need for optimized design parameters for SPR sensors.
An effect of silver arsenic sulfide and gallium sulfide dielectric materials in SPR refractive sensor: a numerical study · 2026 · DOITraditional approaches to strong coupling require stringent conditions, such as ultrahigh vacuum and cryogenic temperatures. Common plasmonic nanostructures have relatively large resonant mode volumes and limited diversity in their optical responses.
Plasmon–Exciton Strong Coupling in Low-Dimensional Materials: From Fundamentals to Hybrid Nanophotonic Platforms · 2025 · DOIThe paper notes that numerous barriers remain between laboratory demonstrations of nanostructured optical systems and mass implementation. The paper does not discuss the cost or scalability of the proposed techniques in detail.
Nanostructured Optical Devices for Solar Energy Harvesting: Light Management from Plasmonic Resonance to High-Index Photonics · 2026 · DOIExplore geometry re-optimization for higher-RI analytes, - Investigate the experimental resolvability of the resonances, - Consider the effect of fabrication deviations on the sensing…
The current SPR technology is limited in sensitivity, especially for low-abundance analytes or single-molecule…
Exploring the potential of graphene-based hybrid nanomaterials in next-generation optical biosensing - Investigating the applications of graphene-gold hybrid nanostructures in wearable biosensors - Developing new nanostructured materials that can deliver better coupling between incident light…
The study is based on simulation results - The optical constants of silver are limited to the wavelength range of 700~1300…
Plasmonic Nanosensors Based on Highly Tunable Multiple Fano Resonances Induced in Metal–Insulator–Metal Waveguide Systems · 2025 · DOIInvestigating the application of the plasmonic nanosensor in real-world scenarios - Exploring the potential of the plasmonic structures in other fields such as bandstop filtering and slow-light…
Plasmonic Nanosensors Based on Highly Tunable Multiple Fano Resonances Induced in Metal–Insulator–Metal Waveguide Systems · 2025 · DOIInvestigating the effect of different numbers of BP monolayers on the sensing properties of the SPR structure, - Analyzing the resonance dips for different analyte RI…
Thickness and Wavelength Optimizations of a High-Performance SPR Sensor Employing a Silver Layer and Black Phosphorus in Principal Directions · 2025 · DOIAchieving significant magnetic Purcell enhancement in a metallic platform. Inducing effective magnetic hot spots in the gap region of the nanoparticle-on-mirror structure. Overcoming the limitation of low local density of optical states (LDOS) in magnetic emitter enhancement.
Magnetic Purcell Enhancement by Plasmon-Induced Magnetic Anapole Mode in the Gap of Oblate Nano-Ellipsoid on Metal Mirror Structure · 2025 · DOIInvestigating magnetic Purcell enhancement within the nanoparticle-on-mirror NPOM structure, - Exploring the potential of ONEOM structures in applications requiring efficient magnetic dipole emission, - Advancing single-photon emission from magnetic dipole transition…
Magnetic Purcell Enhancement by Plasmon-Induced Magnetic Anapole Mode in the Gap of Oblate Nano-Ellipsoid on Metal Mirror Structure · 2025 · DOIExploring strong coupling at the micro- and nanoscale, - Developing new nanoparticle architectures, - Investigating the integration of distinct excitonic materials, - Constructing biexciton strong coupling…
Plasmon–Exciton Strong Coupling in Low-Dimensional Materials: From Fundamentals to Hybrid Nanophotonic Platforms · 2025 · DOIExploring the combined parameter space to reveal designs that further optimize trapping performance. Investigating the scalability of the optimized design. Applying the optimized design to advanced single-molecule biophysics applications.
Morphology-Driven optimization of Double Nanohole-based Plasmonic Optical Tweezers · 2026By addressing the key limitations of mechanically tuned and spatially distributed metasurfaces, this work opens new opportunities in reconfigurable IR spectroscopy, vibrational polaritonics, and many other applications of actively tunable light–matter interaction systems.
Dynamically tunable membrane metasurfaces for infrared spectroscopy and strong light-matter interactions · 2026 · DOIAchieving high-speed and low-power operation - Integrating the design with electronic memory - Overcoming the lack of native plasmonic storage at ~1 ps…
The Fable Computer: A Room-Temperature Terahertz Half Adder on a Regenerative Graphene-Plasmon Logic Fabric · 2026 · DOIThe need for high-speed and low-power computing - The lack of native plasmonic storage at ~1 ps lifetimes - The need for efficient and compact…
The Fable Computer: A Room-Temperature Terahertz Half Adder on a Regenerative Graphene-Plasmon Logic Fabric · 2026 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research
- Surface plasmon subwavelength optics · Nature · 2003 · 10,576 citations
- Plasmonics: Merging Photonics and Electronics at Nanoscale Dimensions · Science · 2006 · 4,110 citations
- A Hybridization Model for the Plasmon Response of Complex Nanostructures · Science · 2003 · 3,704 citations
- Sub-Diffraction-Limited Optical Imaging with a Silver Superlens · Science · 2005 · 3,496 citations
- Mimicking Surface Plasmons with Structured Surfaces · Science · 2004 · 2,968 citations
- Optically resonant dielectric nanostructures · Science · 2016 · 2,674 citations
- Ultra-high-Q resonances in plasmonic metasurfaces · Nature Communications · 2021 · 448 citations
- Recent progress in surface plasmon resonance based sensors: A comprehensive review · Heliyon · 2021 · 348 citations
- Imaging-based spectrometer-less optofluidic biosensors based on dielectric metasurfaces for detecting extracellular vesicles · Nature Communications · 2021 · 295 citations
- Interface nano-optics with van der Waals polaritons · Nature · 2021 · 287 citations
Most recent work
- Robust ultrahigh-Q resonances in tetramer metasurfaces through centroid symmetry protection and area conservation · Light Science & Applications · 2026
- Machine learning-enhanced surface plasmon resonance glucose biosensor using black phosphorus-strontium titanate multilayer architecture for non-invasive diabetes management · Ain Shams Engineering Journal · 2026
- Multiplexed biosensing: A review of surface plasmon resonance platforms for biomarker analysis · Talanta · 2026
- A Novel SPR Sensor Response for Chemical Sensing of Organic Solvents: A Computational Approach · Advanced Theory and Simulations · 2026
- Nonlinear light conversion and infrared photodetection with laser-printed plasmonic metasurfaces supporting bound states in the continuum · Light Science & Applications · 2026
- Tunable dispersion and conductivity-induced superluminal dynamics in hybrid quantum dot nanostructures · Optics & Laser Technology · 2026
- Converging nanophotonics and environmental science: Plasmonic biosensors for smart, distributed monitoring · Journal of environmental chemical engineering · 2026
- A low-cost, high-sensitivity WSPRi system using a multi-LED array and smoothness-constrained reconstruction algorithm · Applied Physics Letters · 2026
- Machine learning-optimized hafnium diselenide-based surface plasmon resonance sensor · Surfaces and Interfaces · 2026
- Smart graphene-enhanced ceramic material refractive index sensor simulation design developed for highly sensitive breast Cancer detection optimized with machine learning · Spectrochimica Acta Part A Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy · 2026
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