Abstract
Photonic Crystal Fibres (PCFs) developed using nanostructured composite materials provides special optical properties which can revolutionise current optical sensing technologies. The modal and propagation characteristics of the PCF can be tailored by altering their geometrical parameters and material infiltrations. A drawback of commercially available PCF is their limited operating wavelengths, which is mostly in the infrared (IR) spectral band. Nanostructured composite materials manipulates the optical properties of the PCF, facilitating their operation in the higher sensitivity near infrared (NIR) wavelength regime. Hence, there arises a need to closely investigate the effect of nanostructure and composite materials on various optical parameters of the PCF sensor. This paper presents a hexagonal PCF designed using COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS 5.1 software, with a nanostructured core and microstructured cladding. Propagation characteristics like confinement loss and mode field diameter (MFD) are investigated and compared with various geometrical parameters like core diameter, cladding hole diameter, pitch, etc. Theoretical study revealed that a nanostructured PCF experiences reduced confinement losses and also improved mode field diameter. Furthermore, studies are also carried out by infiltrating the cladding holes with composite materials (liquid crystal and glass). These simulations helped in analysing the effect of different liquid crystal materials on PCF bandwidth and spectral positions.
Highlights
The demand for optical fibres and fibre optic technologies increased considerably after the telecommunication revolution which ignited in the 1980’s
The computational study carried out by nanostructuring the Photonic Crystal Fibres (PCFs) core and by changing the size, shape and distribution of the PCF holes resulted in a shift in its spectral band, accompanied with a reduction in confinement losses and mode field diameter (MFD)
It was found that the PCF confinement wavelengths and losses are a strong function of its structural parameters
Summary
The demand for optical fibres and fibre optic technologies increased considerably after the telecommunication revolution which ignited in the 1980’s. PCFs [2] are gaining popularity in recent years, owing to their specialized geometrical structure (coreair hole cladding) and unique properties, which include their guiding mechanisms and modal characteristics [3] They produce lower optical transmission losses compared to standard optical fibres [4]. Propagation characteristics of PCFs can be tuned by altering different structural or physical parameters like core diameter (ρ), cladding hole diameter (d) and pitch (Ʌ) in combination with the choice of material refractive index and type of crystal lattice [56] All these inherent capabilities of PCFs are being exploited for different sensing applications. The near infrared (NIR) wavelengths of the optical spectrum are of particular interest for fibre-optic sensing applications due to their improved sensitivity and accuracy compared to other spectral regions Another advantage of material infusion is that the properties of the PCF can be modified even after the fabrication of the PCF. Bandgap PCFs guides light in the low index core region by reflection from the photonic crystal cladding [11]
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