Highly Sensitive Plasmonic Sensor Based on a Dual-Side Polished Photonic Crystal Fiber for Component Content Sensing Applications

Abstract

A plasmonic sensor based on a dual-side polished photonic crystal fiber operating in a telecommunication wavelength range is proposed and investigated numerically by the finite element method (FEM). We study the effects of structural parameters on the sensor’s performance and analyze their tuning effects on loss spectra. As a result, two configurations are found when the analyte refractive index (RI) changes from 1.395 to 1.415. For configuration 1, an RI resolution of 9.39 × 10−6, an average wavelength sensitivity of 10,650 nm/RIU (the maximum wavelength sensitivity is 12,400 nm/RIU), an amplitude sensitivity of 252 RIU−1 and a linearity of 0.99692 are achieved. For configuration 2, the RI resolution, average wavelength sensitivity, amplitude sensitivity and linearity are 1.19 × 10−5, 8400 nm/RIU, 85 RIU−1 and 0.98246, respectively. The combination of both configurations can broaden the wavelength range for the sensing detection. Additionally, the sensor has a superior figure of merit (FOM) to a single-side polished design. The proposed sensor has a maximum wavelength sensitivity, amplitude sensitivity and RI resolution of the same order magnitude as that of existing sensors as well as higher linearity, which allows it to fulfill the requirements for modern sensing of being densely compact, amenable to integration, affordable and capable of remote sensing.

Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor Based on Dual-Side Polished Microstructured Optical Fiber with Dual-Core

“…The sensing performance of the sensor can be evaluated by wavelength sensitivity (wavelength interrogation) and amplitude sensitivity (amplitude interrogation) [ 5 , 10 , 15 , 18 , 26 ]. The wavelength sensitivity can be calculated from the following equation [ 5 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 26 , 37 , 38 ]: where Δ λ peak is the shift of the resonance wavelength and Δ n a is the variation of n a . As shown by the blue solid and dashed lines in Figure 3 b, we observed Δ λ peak of 15 nm when n a was varied from 1.44 to 1.45.…”

“…The mode characteristics and the sensing performance of the proposed sensor were simulated through commercially available software COMSOL. A perfectly matched layer (PML) was added to the outer computational region, which was applied to absorb scattered light [ 9 , 10 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 19 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”

“…To alleviate phase-matching problems of optical fiber-based SPR sensors, microstructured optical fiber (MOF)-based SPR sensors have been widely studied owing to their design flexibility [ 9 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. By changing the size, shape, and arrangement of air holes along the propagation direction, the n eff can be tuned to the anticipated values and thus can solve the phase-matching problem between the core mode and the SPP mode [ 9 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 24 , 25 ].…”

Numerical Investigation of a Short Polarization Beam Splitter Based on Dual-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber with As2S3 Layer

“…The RI of the air was set to 1. The fluoride phosphate (FP) N-FK51A glass was selected as the background material in our design, and its Sellmeier model [ 21 , 22 ] in the investigated wavelength range (1.40–1.75 μm) can be given by: where A 1 = 0.971247817, A 2 = 0.219014, A 3 = 0.9046517; B 1 = 0.00472302 μm 2 , B 2 = 0.01535756 μm 2 , B 3 = 168.68133 μm 2 , and λ is the operating wavelength in the vacuum (in μm).…”

A Surface Plasmon Resonance Temperature Sensing Unit Based on a Graphene Oxide Composite Photonic Crystal Fiber

“…For example, Kim et al [17] used graphene as a substitute material for Au or Ag in SPR sensors and synthesized multilayer graphene films on Ni substrates to develop fiber optic sensors with increased sensitivity. In terms of optical fiber sensing, due to the advantages of the flexible design of the PCF structure and the high sensitivity of SPR sensing technology [18], [19], the sensitivity and precision of PCR-SPR sensors are higher than those of conventional fiber optic sensors. P. B. Bing et al [20] prepared a PCF-SPR temperature sensor using a high-refractive-index glycerol liquid, achieving a low-temperature resolution as low as 4 × 10 −6 RIU.…”