New photo-curable polymers suitable for 3D printing are here provided, exhibiting a mechanical light-responsivity upon laser irradiation. Azobenzene moieties are employed both as a dye component in the 3DP and as active groups, providing photo-mechanical responsivity. The incorporation of azobenzene units into polymeric matrices allows a reversible and controllable change of the Young's modulus of 3D printed micrometric structures.

We experimentally demonstrate propagation of surface plasmon polaritons in the near-IR window $\lambda ∊(1.45\mu \mathrm{m},1.59\mu \mathrm{m})$ at the interface of indium-tin-oxide films with different thicknesses deposited on glass. Dispersion of such polaritons is strongly dependent on the film thickness, putting into evidence a regime in which polaritons at both films’s interfaces are coupled in surface supermodes. The experimental data are shown to be in good agreement with the analytical model for thin and absorbing conducting films. Measurements on aluminum-doped zinc oxide, characterized by a redshifted plasma resonance, do not show any surface plasmon polariton excitation in the same wavelength window.

Detection of glucose in water solution for several different concentrations has been performed with the purpose to determine the sensitivity of Near Infrared Bloch Surface Waves (λ = 1.55μm) upon refractive index variations of the outer medium. TE-polarized electromagnetic surface waves are excited by a prism on a silicon nitride multilayer, according to the Kretschmann configuration. The real-time reflectance changes induced by discrete variations in glucose concentration has been revealed and analyzed. Without using any particular averaging strategy during the measurements, we pushed the device detection limit down to a glucose concentration of 2.5mg/dL, corresponding to a minimum detectable refractive index variation of the water solution as low as 3.8·10⁻⁶.