Sensitivity enhancement of annular one dimensional photonic crystals temperature sensors with nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

A novel design of one dimensional annular photonic crystals with a low birefringence nematic liquid crystal as a defect layer is introduced. The output field of the sensor structure is plotted after different optimization steps on all constituents such as thickness and core radius of the starting medium. The performance of the sensor was studied using different quality parameters such as sensitivity, figure of merit, detection limit and resolution. The designed sensor exhibits a sensitivity of about 0.224 nm °C−1 due to the presence of the liquid crystal material. The proposed sensor design can be used as a narrowband optical filter in the visible region around two wavelengths: 600 nm and 700 nm. As an optoelectronic device, this structure can serve as a temperature sensor with higher sensitivity than the conventional one dimensional photonic crystal structures and photonic crystals fibers.