Refractive index and temperature sensors of V-cut photonic crystal fibers based on surface plasmon resonance

Abstract

In this paper, a surface plasmon resonance refractive index and temperature sensor based on V-cut photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed. The proposed structure is studied and analyzed using the finite element method (FEM). The sensing area is a V-shaped cut groove, and the cases when the cut angle is positive, 0° and negative are discussed and compared. The results show that when the cutting angle is 15°, the optimal sensing performance can be obtained compared with other cutting angle. By optimizing other structural parameters when the cutting angle is 15°, in the refractive index range of 1.34–1.38, the average sensitivity of the refractive index sensor is 10,500 nm/RIU, and the maximum sensitivity is 52,500 nm/RIU. The average sensitivity is 5.57 nm/°C in the range of 85 ℃–145 ℃ as a temperature sensor. Due to the simple structure and high sensitivity of the design, it can be used for real-time monitoring of analytes in medical, biochemical and environmental monitoring.