Liquid-core photonic crystal fiber based surface plasmon resonance refractive index sensor

Abstract

A surface plasmon resonance refractive index sensor based on a liquid-core photonic crystal fiber is proposed and numerically investigated through the finite element method. The effects of the central metallic analyte channel diameter, the cladding air hole diameter and the liquid-core diameter on the resonant spectrum are studied. A single-resonance and highly sensitive feature of the fundamental mode are utilized to perform the sensing, and a resolution of 2.7×10-⁶ RIU is achieved. The results show that the sensor is rather sensitive to the structural parameters and the resonant wavelength can be tuned to a desired value.