Influence of non-Hermitian mode topology on refractive index sensing with plasmonic waveguides

We evaluate the sensing properties of plasmonic waveguide sensors by calculating their resonant transmission spectra in different regions of the non-Hermitian eigenmode space. We elucidate the pitfalls of using modal dispersion calculations in isolation to predict plasmonic sensor performance, which we address by using a simple model accounting for eigenmode excitation and propagation. Our transmission calculations show that resonant wavelength...