Characteristic Analysis and Structural Design of Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fibers with Band Gap Cladding Structures

Abstract

Due to their flexible structure and excellent optical characteristics hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) are used in many fields, such as active optical devices, communications, and optical fiber sensing. In this paper, to analyze the characteristics of HC-PCFs, we carried out finite element analysis and analyzed the design for the band gap cladding structure of HC-PCFs. First, the characteristics of HC19-1550 and HC-1550-02 in the C-band were simulated. Subsequently, the structural optimization of the seven-cell HC-1550-02 and variations in characteristics of the optimized HC-1550-02 in the wavelength range 1250–1850 nm were investigated. The simulation results revealed that the optimal number of cladding layers is eight, the optimal core radius is 1.8 times the spacing of adjacent air holes, and the optimal-relative thickness of the core quartz-ring is 2.0. In addition, the low confinement loss bandwidth of the optimized structure is 225 nm. Under the transmission bandwidth of the optimized structure, the core optical power is above 98%, the confinement loss is below 9.0 × 10−3 dB/m, the variation range of the effective mode field area does not exceed 10 μm2, and the relative sensitivity is above 0.9570. The designed sensor exhibits an ultra-high relative sensitivity and almost zero confinement loss, making it highly suitable for high-sensitivity gas or liquid sensing.

Photonic Crystal Fiber Sensors, Literature Review, Challenges, and Some Novel Trends

“…3, Fig. 4 The figure's red arrows clearly shows the electric field direction on the fundamental mode's surface [23]. The main modes' HC19-1550 and HC-1550-02 mode field areas are 123.05 µm 2 and 36.06 µm 2 , respectively, and their core optical power fraction PF are 99.51% and 92.83%, respectively.…”

“…Photonic crystal fibers with hollow-core (HC-PCFs) are used in a variety of applications, which include optical fiber sensing, active optical devices, and communications, due to their excellent optical properties and flexible structure. The structure's arrangement is analyzed using finite elements for the band gap cladding of HC-PCFs and its features [23].…”

Characteristic Analysis and Structural Design of Photonic Crystal Fibers for Gas Sensing Applications

“…Sensors-based PCF with their unique properties brings some new opportunities to the multi-purpose sensors such as pressure sensors [18], refractive index sensors [19], biosensors [20] and chemical sensors [21]. According to the different light guiding mechanism, PCFs can be classified into two types, namely, refractive index guided photonic crystal fiber (IG-PCF) [5] and photonic band gap photonic crystal fiber (PBG-PCF) [22]. For PBG-PCFs, it uses the photonic band gap effect to make light propagate in the air hole of PCF instead of in the quartz, Disclaimer/Publisher's Note: The statements, opinions, and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s).…”

Efficient Photonic Crystal Fiber Design for Higher OAM Modes with Low Loss Towards Next Generation THz Communication

“…The properties of PCF can be tuned by changing the design of the fiber such as by changing the air hole patterns 7 . Photonic crystal fiber such as circular PCFs (C-PCF) has proven to be a promising candidate for the same 2,8 . Designing modern photonic crystal and fabricating them is a real challenge 9 , thus designing a relatively simpler PCF both in terms of design components, materials, as well as fabrication process is an intensive optimization process and requiring a great deal of understanding 10 .…”