Sensitive plasmonic-photonic nanosensor as a morphologic mask

Abstract In this study, a new nanosensor is assembled in the form of a phantom model to optically scan the breast for early cancer detection based on the plasmonic and plasmonic–photonic interaction phenomena. Sensing is carried out through a user-friendly method by improving imaging through the traditional optical tomography method. The novelty of the designed sensor is attributed to the coupling of the nanoparticle plasmonic near-field intensity to the far-field region (photonic mode interaction with the near-field plasmon resonance). It is shown that the plasmonic–photonic interaction has a dramatic influence on the gradient image and therefore, the edge detection and segmentation of the image are effectively altered. This is due to the fact that the plasmonic fields of the nanoparticles in the near- and far-field manipulate the field gradient, which leads to a modification of the intensity discontinuities at different interfaces. In fact, it is well-known that the fundamental idea behind edge detection is utilized to detect parts of the image where the intensity varies rapidly. Based on this knowledge, interestingly, it is shown that the segmentation and edge detection of the image are improved by the manipulating optical properties of the mask.