{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,3]],"date-time":"2026-04-03T01:24:56Z","timestamp":1775179496530,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,23]],"date-time":"2023-02-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1677110400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Highly sensitive detection of enhanced terahertz (THz) fingerprint absorption spectrum of trace-amount tiny molecules is essential for biosensing. THz surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors based on Otto prism-coupled attenuated total reflection (OPC-ATR) configuration have been recognized as a promising technology in biomedical detection applications. However, THz-SPR sensors based on the traditional OPC-ATR configuration have long been associated with low sensitivity, poor tunability, low refractive index resolution, large sample consumption, and lack of fingerprint analysis. Here, we propose an enhanced tunable high-sensitivity and trace-amount THz-SPR biosensor based on a composite periodic groove structure (CPGS). The elaborate geometric design of the spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) metasurface increases the number of electromagnetic hot spots on the surface of the CPGS, improves the near-field enhancement effect of SSPPs, and enhances the interaction between THz wave and the sample. The results show that the sensitivity (S), figure of merit (FOM) and Q-factor (Q) can be increased to 6.55 THz\/RIU, 4234.06 1\/RIU and 629.28, respectively, when the refractive index range of the sample to measure is between 1 and 1.05 with the resolution 1.54\u00d710\u22125 RIU. Moreover, by making use of the high structural tunability of CPGS, the best sensitivity (SPR frequency shift) can be obtained when the resonant frequency of the metamaterial approaches the biological molecule oscillation. These advantages make CPGS a strong candidate for the high-sensitivity detection of trace-amount biochemical samples.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23052496","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,24]],"date-time":"2023-02-24T02:03:26Z","timestamp":1677204206000},"page":"2496","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Enhanced Terahertz Fingerprint Sensing Mechanism Study of Tiny Molecules Based on Tunable Spoof Surface Plasmon Polaritons on Composite Periodic Groove Structures"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4167-5691","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ruiqi","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong Key Laboratory of Low-Altitude Airspace Surveillance Network Technology, QILU Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Jinan 250132, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3519-4832","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yu","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong Key Laboratory of Low-Altitude Airspace Surveillance Network Technology, QILU Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Jinan 250132, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3626-9397","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Haotian","family":"Ling","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong Key Laboratory of Low-Altitude Airspace Surveillance Network Technology, QILU Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Jinan 250132, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5347-0124","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xudong","family":"Zou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shandong Key Laboratory of Low-Altitude Airspace Surveillance Network Technology, QILU Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Jinan 250132, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100190, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3503-1136","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Meng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3615-9035","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guizhen","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Media Convergence and Communication, Communication University of China (CUC), Beijing 100039, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"910","DOI":"10.1109\/22.989974","article-title":"Terahertz technology","volume":"50","author":"Siegel","year":"2002","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. 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