This paper proposes a methane sensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of a hexagonal periodic gold nanoring array. The effects of structural parameters on the extinction spectrum and refractive index (RI) sensitivity are analyzed to obtain optimal parameters. In particular, the RI sensitivity can reach 550.08 nm/RIU through improvement of the sensor structure, which is an increase of 17.4% over the original value. After coating a methane-sensitive membrane on the inner and outer surfaces of the gold rings, the methane concentration can be accurately measured with a gas sensitivity of −1.02 nm/%. The proposed method is also applicable to quantitative analyses of components concentration and qualitative analyses of gas composition.
A high-sensitive and transverse-stress compensated methane sensor based on a photonic crystal fiber long-period grating (PCF-LPG) is proposed. The outermost layer of the PCF consists of six large sideholes, five of which are coated with methane-sensitive compound film to achieve methane measurement. Such side-hole structure is helpful for gas sensitive reaction, but not conducive to avoiding external stress interference. Therefore, the last large hole is plated with silver layer to eliminate the cross-sensitivity effect through adding a Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensing channel with the consideration of photo-elastic effect and material deformation. Results show that the methane gas sensitivity can reach up to 6.39nm/% with the transverse-stress compensation. The sensor is very simple and effective, which provides a new method of gas measurement combined with different actual conditions. INDEX TERMS Methane sensor, transverse-stress compensation, photonic crystal fiber long period grating, surface plasmon resonance.
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