Infiltrated Photonic Crystal Fibers for Sensing Applications

Abstract

Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are a special class of optical fibers with a periodic arrangement of microstructured holes located in the fiber’s cladding. Light confinement is achieved by means of either index-guiding, or the photonic bandgap effect in a low-index core. Ever since PCFs were first demonstrated in 1995, their special characteristics, such as potentially high birefringence, very small or high nonlinearity, low propagation losses, and controllable dispersion parameters, have rendered them unique for many applications, such as sensors, high-power pulse transmission, and biomedical studies. When the holes of PCFs are filled with solids, liquids or gases, unprecedented opportunities for applications emerge. These include, but are not limited in, supercontinuum generation, propulsion of atoms through a hollow fiber core, fiber-loaded Bose–Einstein condensates, as well as enhanced sensing and measurement devices. For this reason, infiltrated PCF have been the focus of intensive research in recent years. In this review, the fundamentals and fabrication of PCF infiltrated with different materials are discussed. In addition, potential applications of infiltrated PCF sensors are reviewed, identifying the challenges and limitations to scale up and commercialize this novel technology.

Graphene-based Materials in Gas Sensor Applications: A Review

“…The optical fiber is a small and lightweight device, but detection measurement can be easily distorted with interruption from ambient light interference. (21) This sensor can be costly compared with many conventional gas sensors. In 1991, Philip Russell proposed a special optical fiber combining the properties of a photonic crystal with conventional optical fibers.…”

“…The photonic crystal fiber (PCF) has been explored as a versatile sensor of gaseous, liquid, and even solid materials. (21,22) Rifat et al have proposed a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor-based PCF design using a graphene-silver coating. (22) It is said that the graphene coating can improve sensing performance by providing a high surface-to-volume ratio, better absorption of analytes, and superior plasmonic properties, while also inhibiting the oxidation of silver.…”

Proposal for a Quad-Elliptical Photonic Crystal Fiber for Terahertz Wave Guidance and Sensing Chemical Warfare Liquids

“…Similar to conventional optical fiber sensors, the performance of the proposed fiber can be assessed by its relative sensitivity and refractive index detection limit [58]. The latter is essential in refractometric sensing [20]. The refractive index of a liquid is measured using this kind of sensor by infiltrating it into the fiber's core air holes.…”

“…The refractive index of a liquid is measured using this kind of sensor by infiltrating it into the fiber's core air holes. The refractive index of the infiltrated liquid is extracted by monitoring the variation of reflectance or transmission spectra at the operating frequency [20,59,60].…”

“…Algorri et al details several forms of infiltrated PCF sensors that have emerged over the years. PCFs can be infiltrated with solids, liquids, or gas [20]. A liquid chemical sensor is a device which is used to transform chemical information into the form of a measurable physical signal that is associated with the concentration of a certain chemical liquid [19].…”