Highly sensitive quasi-D-shaped photonic crystal fiber biosensor designed for the detection of RBC parasitized by Plasmodium falciparum for the early diagnosis of malaria

Abstract

A simple quasi-D-shaped photonic crystal fiber (PCF)-based surface plasmon resonance biosensor is proposed for the early diagnosis of malaria that arises as a result of Plasmodium falciparum parasite development in erythrocytes in the human body. The flat surface of the D-shaped PCF is covered with a thin layer of TiO2 along with a gold layer. The finite element method (FEM) is used to numerically investigate the characteristics of the sensor. With the well-optimized set of parameters, the proposed sensor exhibits maximum spectral sensitivities of 42857.14 nm/RIU, 22105.26 nm/RIU, and 16206.90 nm/RIU with resolutions of 2.33 × 10−06 RIU, 4.52 × 10−06 RIU, and 6.17 × 10−06 RIU for ring, trophozoite, and schizont phases, respectively. The obtained amplitude sensitivities are 784.55 RIU−1, 491.02 RIU−1, and 407.99 RIU−1 and FOMs are 596.90 RIU−1, 423.98 RIU−1, and 341.63 RIU−1 for the three phases, respectively. Therefore, with the promising results and simplified practical realization, the proposed sensor can be an excellent candidate for the identification of Plasmodium falciparum phases in RBC for malaria diagnosis.