A divergent-beam surface plasmon resonance architecture for multiplexed malaria biosensing

Abstract: We present a numerical study of a divergent-beam Kretschmann surface plasmon resonance (SPR) platform for multiplexed malaria biosensing. A Powell-lens-generated angular fan enables camera-based angular interrogation of spatially separated regions of interest on a single Au film, thereby removing the need for mechanical scanning. The framework combines transfer-matrix modelling of the prism/Au multilayer with an effective-adlayer description of biomolecular binding at the biofunctional interface. As a representative dual-biomarker case, we consider plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) and histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP-2). Benchmarking of the N-SF11/Au (45 nm) baseline against published water/glycerol data reproduces the characteristic resonance positions and yields a bulk angular sensitivity of $73.2181 \,^\circ \text{RIU}^{-1}$. With representative aptamer-like and antibody-like recognition layers, the relevant sensing states remain within $54^\circ$ to $57^\circ$ and produce distinct, detector-resolvable responses. Combining the optical model with effective-medium and Langmuir binding descriptions gives model-based detection limits of approximately $5.5\,\text{ng mL}^{-1}$ for HRP-2 and $5.8\times 10^{-2}\,\text{ng mL}^{-1}$ for pLDH. These results support divergent-beam SPR as a viable architecture for quantitative multiplexed malaria biosensing.