Dual-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber–Based Plasmonic Sensor for a Broad Range of Refractive Index Sensing

Abstract

A dual-core photonic crystal fiber sensor using the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon has been demonstrated for a wide range of refractive index sensing. The proposed structure has a dual core with finite holes filled with air in the cladding section and four sides of C-shaped plasmonic layer arrangements. The gold metal layer is a plasmonic layer with TiO2 dielectric layer. Simulation work is performed on COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software to determine the optimized structural parameters for efficient sensing performance. This sensor is compatible with analyte samples of refractive index (RI) range of 1.21–1.39. The value of maximum wavelength sensitivity is obtained 35,000 nm/RIU for an analyte sample RI 1.38–1.39 with an average sensitivity of 6368 nm/RIU and amplitude sensitivity is observed at 373 RIU−1 for the analyte sample of RI 1.38. The proposed PCF sensor reveals the wavelength resolution (R) of 2.85 × 10−6 RIU and the figure of merit (FOM) value of 259 RIU−1 for an analyte sample of RI 1.38. Due to the long range of analyte detection, this sensor has the potential to be developed as a sensor for biochemical and biomedical sensing applications as well as the detection of different organics containing fluorine. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2024.