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Propagation Controlled Photonic Crystal Fiber Based Plasmonic Sensor via

Scaled-Down Approach

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DOI: 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2880161

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2880161, IEEE Sensors
Journal
Propagation Controlled Photonic Crystal Fiber
Based Plasmonic Sensor via Scaled-Down
Approach
Firoz Haider, Rifat Ahmmed Aoni, Rajib Ahmed, Md. Saiful Islam, and Andrey E. Miroshnichenko
 grating, multimode interference, and resonant mirror since SPR
Abstract— Light trapping capability is the key phenomena of
the photonic crystal fiber (PCF) which paves the broad range of
applications. In this work, we control the light-guiding direction of
the proposed PCFs via scaled-down approach to enhance the
coupling between core-guided mode and surface plasmon polariton
(SPP) mode resulting increase of sensitivity. We introduce the
scaled-down air-holes in the 1st and 2nd rings of the proposed PCF
which provides the light guiding capability through the desire
scaled-down region. A chemically stable plasmonic material gold is
used outside the PCF structure to facilitate the detection of
unknown analyte externally. Finite element method is used for
numerical investigations, and the sensor performance is
investigated by following the wavelength and amplitude
interrogation methods. The proposed sensor shows the maximum
wavelength sensitivities of 30,000 and 22,000 nm/RIU, and the
maximum amplitude sensitivities of 1,212 RIU-1 and 1,506 RIU-1 for
x- and y-polarized modes, respectively in the analyte refractive
index (RI) range of 1.33 to 1.39. It also shows high sensor
wavelength resolution of 3.33×10-6 RIU and 4.54×10-6 RIU, and a
figure of merit (FOM) about 508 and 500 for x- and y-polarized
modes, respectively. It should be noted that proposed PCF SPR
sensor shows the significant sensing response for both polarization
modes, as a result it will provide more freedom in choosing light
source during practical implementation. Furthermore, the finding
results indicates the proposed sensor will be effective for the
detection of organic chemicals, biomolecules, and medical
diagnostics.
Index Terms— Surface plasmon resonance, optical fiber
sensors, photonic crystal fiber.
I. INTRODUCTION
S urface plasmon resonance (SPR) is getting more attention
due to highly sensitive nature and wide range of
applications including medical diagnostics, food quality
control, virus detection, environment monitoring and so on [1-
4]. SPR based sensor is more explored compared to other
sensing approaches such as micro-ring resonator, fiber Bragg
Firoz Haider and Rifat Ahmmed Aoni contributed to this work equally.
Firoz Haider is with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Trishal, Mymensingh-2220,
Bangladesh.
Rifat Ahmmed Aoni is with the Nonlinear Physics Centre, Research School
of Physics and Engineering, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT-
2601, Australia (e-mail: RifatAhmmed.Aoni@anu.edu.au).
1558-1748 (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
1
sensor offer high sensitivity and more accuracy in detecting
unknown analyte [5]. PCF based SPR sensor technique is the
combination of plasmonic science and PCF technology [6].
Liedberg et al. first introduced SPR based sensor in 1983 which
was basically used for gas detection and bio-sensing [7, 8]. In
the past, SPR based sensors used prism and active metal layer
based on the Kretschmann set-up configuration where free
electrons of plasmonic metal and frequency of transvers
magnetic (TM) or p-polarized light were matched and hence
initiated surface plasmon wave (SPW) [9, 10]. Although a
prism based SPR sensor is inexpensive and available but, still
has some limitations like bulky and incompatible to remote
sensing [11]. To overcome these limitations, PCF based SPR
sensor is developed which provides design flexibility and
miniaturized structures [12]. Evanescent field plays the key role
for a PCF SPR sensor which interacts with the plasmonic
medium. When light propagates through the core, the
evanescent field penetrates through the cladding region which
induces the oscillations of the free electrons of the plasmonic
material. It leads to the excitation of the surface plasmon wave
propagating along the metal-dielectric interface [13, 14]. At a
particular wavelength, refractive index (Real) of core guided
mode and SPP mode are perfectly matched and this wavelength
shows an intense loss peak that considered as phase matching
condition [6].
SPR sensor performance strongly depends on plasmonic
materials. Generally, silver, copper and gold have widely been
used in SPR sensor [15]. As a plasmonic material, silver
provides sharp resonance peak compared to other materials
however, silver is easily oxidized and chemically unstable
which reduces the performance of a sensor [16]. To avoid
oxidation, a sleazy graphene layer can be used on the top of
silver layer which is difficult to maintain and has an impact on
the manufacturing cost [12]. On the other hand, as a plasmonic
material, gold is reliable because of chemical stability and for
providing large resonance wavelength shift [17]. To date,
Rajib Ahmed is with the School of Medicine, Bio-Acoustic MEMS in
Medicine (BAMM) Laboratory, Stanford Canary Center, Stanford University,
Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
Md. Saiful Islam is with the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering,
University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
Andrey E. Miroshnichenko is with the School of Engineering and
Information Technology, University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT
2600, Australia
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2880161, IEEE Sensors
Journal
2

reported PCF based SPR sensors can be differentiated by
internal sensing, D-shaped structure, microfluidic slot-based
structure, long period fiber Bragg grating and external metal-
coated sensing technique [6, 18]. In the internal sensing
technique, liquid infiltration and selective metal coating are
required which is quite difficult in terms of fabrication.
Recently, Rifat et al. reported the selectively coated PCF based
SPR sensor that shows the wavelength sensitivity of 11,000
nm/RIU and maximum amplitude sensitivity of 1420 RIU-1 [6].
The D-shaped structure is more effective for using homogenous
metal because of the flat PCF structure however, it requires
precise polishing effort which is challenging [3]. Chao et al.
reported a D-shape PCF based SPR sensor with the amplitude
sensitivity of 1,222 RIU-1 and wavelength sensitivity of 14,660
nm/RIU [19]. In the recent year, an external sensing technique
is more feasible and promising because of plasmonic metal
coating outside the PCF structure and in terms of fabrication
feasibility. Recently, Hasan et al. reported a spiral PCF based
dual-polarized SPR biosensor which shows maximum
wavelength sensitivity of 4,300 and 4,600 nm/RIU for x- and y-
polarized modes, respectively in the sensing range of 1.33-1.38
[20]. Generally, most of the reported PCF SPR sensors shows
only one polarization mode (either x- or y-polarized mode) is
stronger and another one is very poor. Also, both of the
polarization modes exhibit the coupling at the same resonant
wavelength [14]. Very limited number of dual-polarized PCF
SPR sensors have been reported where both polarized modes
show equally highly sensitive nature. Dual-polarized PCFs
shows the capability of multi-analyte detection due to different
operating wavelength window as well as will provide the
freedom of choosing light source.
In this paper, a simple dual-polarized highly sensitive PCF
based SPR sensor is proposed where the unknown analyte will
be detected externally. Due to such external sensing approach,
the calibration with different samples will be straight-forward
as well as to exchange the measuring sample will be simple.
Moreover, the unknown sample detection can be carried out by
streaming analyte through the gold surface or simply keeping
on it. We control the light-guiding direction of the proposed
PCFs by scaling down the air-holes diameter, which provides
more space to propagate the light through the desire scaling
down air-holes region and open the way to interact with the
sensing medium. Generally, scaled-down air-holes which are
very small compared to the existing other cladding air-holes act
as a core medium [21]. In the proposed sensor, the scaled-down
air-holes control the direction of light and help to enhance the
coupling between core-guided mode and SPP mode and
increase the sensitivity. The proposed sensor shows low loss
and high sensitivity characteristics that is numerically
the 1st and 2nd ring to control the propagation direction of the
light through the PCF. The scaled down air-holes help to
accumulate the evanescent electromagnetic field which can
stimulate the surface electrons. It also helps to establish the
phase matching condition between the core-guided mode and
SPP mode. In terms of fabrication, thick-wall capillary
indicates scale down air-holes and thin-wall capillary indicates
the regular air-holes, shown in Fig. 1(b). Here, air-holes center
to center distance is defined as pitch, Λ = 1.80 µm, air-holes
diameter, d = 0.8Λ, scaled-down air-holes diameter ds = 0.20Λ,
gold layer thickness tg = 40 nm, liquid layer thickness, 1.0 µm
and PML layer thickness, 1.20 µm are considered for the
proposed sensor. The refractive index of the fused silica can be
evaluated by using Sellmeier equation [6];
B12 B22 B32
n 2 ( )  1    (1)
2  C1 2  C2 2  C3
where n refers to the refractive index of silica, λ refers to the
wavelength in µm. The Sellmeier parameters are B1=0.696163,
B2=0.4079426, B3=0.897479400, C1=0.0046791486, C2=
0.0135120631, and C3= 97.9340025.
Gold layer has a significant impact to increase the detection
capability of a sensor which is placed on surface of PCF
structure. The dielectric function of gold can be realized by
Drude-Lorentz model [22]
 2D  . 2 L
 Au      2 (2)
 (  j D ) (   2 L )  jL
where εAu refers to the permitivity of gold, ε∞ refers to the
permittivity at high frequency and value is 5.9673, ω is angular
frequency where ω=2πc/λ. Here, damping frequency is γ D, the
plasmon frequency is ωD and other parameter of the equation
are γD/2π=15.92 THz, ωD/2π=2113.6 THz. The oscillator
strength is ΩL=650.07 THz and the spectral width is Г L/2π
=104.86 THz, respectively.
The proposed sensor performance is numerically
investigated by using finite element method (FEM) based on
commercially available COMSOL software. A perfectly
matched layer (PML) and scattering boundary conditions are
used to absorb the evanescent field that comes from the PCF
structure.
(a) (b)
Blue Shift Red
Ref. Shift

investigated through finite element method (FEM). The effects (c)

Response
Sensing

of sensor parameters such as air-hole diameter, pitch and gold

layer thickness, liquid layer and PML layer have been Inlet Wavelength

investigated for optimal sensing performance.

Light
source OSA
Fiber Fiber
Computer
II. STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
Outlet
The cross-section view of the proposed sensor is shown in
Fig. 1(a). The hexagonal PCF structure consist with two circular Fig. 1. Cross-section of the (a) proposed sensor, (b) preform structure of the
air-hole rings. Scaled down air-holes have been introduced in proposed PCF and (c) schematic of the experimental set-up.

1558-1748 (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2880161, IEEE Sensors
Journal
3

The schematic of the experimental set-up shown in Fig. 1(c). A
broadband/monochromatic light source could be used to carry
out the sensing measurement. Inlet and outlet could be used to
flow/ change the sample via syringe pump (withdraw or
pumping mode). Due to presence of different unknown
analytes, the resonance wavelength will show either blue shift
or read shift which could be easily measured using the optical
spectrum analyzer (OSA) or photodetector.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Figure 2 shows the proposed sensor guiding properties and
relation between the core-guided mode and SPP mode. Panels
(a) and (b) exhibit the distribution of electric field of the core
guided mode and SPP mode at analyte RI 1.37 for x-polarized
mode, whereas, the Fig. 2 (c) and (d) show the distribution of
electric field of the core guided mode and SPP mode for y-
polarized mode at analyte RI 1.37. It is obvious that both of the
polarized modes showing the strong coupling however, y-
polarized mode is much stronger than the x-polarized mode.
Fig. 2 (e) shows the dispersion relation at analyte RI 1.37. The
effective index of core-guided mode and SPP mode meet at 770
nm and 750 nm for x- and y-polarized modes, respectively
which is considered as phase matching phenomenon where
maximum energy transferred from core-guided mode to SPP
mode [23]. The propagation loss is realized by the following
equation [12];
 (dB/cm)  8.686  k Im( n
0 eff
(a) x-Pol. (b)
Core mode
(c) y-Pol. (d)
Core mode
(e) 200
x-pol core mode
Y-pol core mode
where k0= 2π/λ denotes the wave number in the free space,
Im(neff) is the imaginary part of the refractive index and λ
denotes wavelength. The neff (Real) of the SPP mode changes
with the small variation of analyte RI as a result phase matching
wavelength also changes. Due to variation of the analyte RI, the
phase matching wavelength shows either red shift or blue shift
character [6]. Fig. 3(a) and (b) show the changing of analyte RI
from 1.33 to 1.39 for x- and y-polarized modes, respectively.
Resonance peak or phase matching wavelength switch towards
the longer wavelength by increasing the analyte RI. At analyte
RI na= 1.33, the loss value is low which indicates coupling
between core mode and SPP mode is poor for both x-and y-
polarized modes. It also indicates the less energy transfer from
core-guided mode to the SPP mode [20]. The amplitude and
wavelength interrogation methods are used to realize the
sensitivity of a sensor. Generally, the wavelength interrogation
method shows high sensitivity response from the amplitude
interrogation method [24]. The equation of wavelength
interrogation is as following [24]
S ( )   peak / na (4)
where Δna defines variation in analyte RI, Δλpeak define the
wavelength peak shift. For analyte RI 1.33, resonance peak
appears at 620 nm wavelength, for x- and y-polarized modes,
respectively and the corresponding loss spectrums are 54 and
77.22 dB/cm, respectively. The wavelength peak shifts towards
)  10 4 (3) higher wavelength with the increase of analyte RI and the index
difference between core and SPP mode becomes smaller that
causes a significant change of propagation loss [25]. At analyte
x-Pol.
SPP mode RI of 1.39, the resonant peak appears at 1160 and 1060 nm for
Max
x- and y-polarized modes, respectively, and corresponding loss
peaks are 118.09 dB/cm and 251.09 dB/cm.
The confinement loss increases with the increasing of analyte
RI. For x-polarized mode, the lowest propagation loss is 54
dB/cm and highest propagation loss is 191 dB/cm at analyte RI
of 1.33 and 1.38, respectively. On the other hand, for y-
polarized mode, lowest propagation loss is 77 dB/cm and
y-Pol.
SPP mode highest propagation loss is 296 dB/cm. For x-polarized mode,
the resonant wavelength shifted from 860 nm to 1160 nm (300
nm) which is highest for changing the analyte RI from 1.38 to
1.39. It indicates the maximum wavelength sensitivity of
30,000 nm/RIU. For y-polarized mode, the resonant
Min wavelength switches from 840 nm to 1060 nm (220 nm) which
is highest for changing the analyte RI from 1.38 to 1.39. It
indicates the maximum wavelength sensitivity of 22,000
1.445
nm/RIU. Higher confinement loss indicates the increase of field
Effective Index (Real)

X-pol core mode 1.44 infiltration through the cladding area [26]. As a result, analyte
150 Y-pol core mode
Loss (dB/cm)

X-pol spp mode interaction is increased and maximum energy is transferred

Y-pol spp mode 1.435
100 from the core guided mode to SPP mode [26]. Generally, with
1.43
the increase of analyte RI, refractive index contrast between the
50
1.425 core-guided mode and the spp-mode reduce as a result strong
0 1.42
coupling occurs and the sensor become more sensitive.
670 720 770 820 870 Therefore, with the presence of higher analyte RI, PCF SPR
Wavelength (nm)
sensors shows the more sensitive response which leads to
Fig. 2. Distribution of electric field of the core-guided mode and SPP mode for nonlinear sensing response [6, 27].
(a, b) x – polarized mode, (c, d) y-polarized mode at analyte RI 1.37; and (e) Resolution of a sensor is another important parameter, which
Proposed sensor dispersion relation at the core mode, SPP mode and loss
indicates the smallest analyte RI changes detection capability.
spectrum for an analyte RI 1.37 in both x- and y-polarized modes.

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2880161, IEEE Sensors
Journal
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The sensor resolution can be realized by the following equation Fig. 3. (a & b) x- and y-polarized loss spectrum for analyte RI from 1.33 to
1.39, (c & d) x- and y-polarized amplitude sensitivity for analyte RI from 1.33
[28]; to 1.39. (e) 2nd polynomial fit of the resonant wavelength with respect to analyte
RI changes for x -and y-polarized modes.
R( RIU )  na  min /  peak (5)
Amplitude sensitivity is another important sensing technique
where Δn indicates the changes of analyte RI, Δλmin indicates which is also known as cost-effective method. Wavelength
minimum spectral resolution, and the resonant wavelength peak interrogation method is require the full spectra of the signal.
shift is defined by Δλpeak. For the parameters Δna = 0.01, Δλmin Therefore, wavelength sensitivity and its implementation cost
= 0.1 nm, and Δλpeak = 300 nm, the sensor shows the maximum is comparatively high. On the other hand, amplitude sensitivity
resolution of 3.33×10-6 RIU and for Δλpeak = 220 nm the is considered more cost-effective since it can detect at a single
maximum resolution of the sensor is 4.54×10 -6 RIU. wavelength [27]. Amplitude sensitivity is realized by the
(a) (b) following equation [24]
200
 ( , na )
S A ( )[ RIU 1 ]  
300 Analyte RI
x-pol. Analyte RI y-pol. 1
1.33 250
1.33 (6)
 ( , na ) na
150 1.34 1.34
Loss (dB/cm)

Loss (dB/cm)

1.35 1.35
200 1.36
1.36
100 1.37 150
1.37
1.38 where,  ( , na ) is the loss depth at any analyte refractive index,
1.38
1.39
1.39
50
100
and  ( , na ) is the difference of two loss spectra. Fig. 3 (c)
50

0 0
and (d) shows the amplitude sensitivity of the proposed sensor
500 700 900 1100 1300 500 700 900 1100 1300 for the x- and y-polarized modes, respectively. According to
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)
(c) (d) Fig. 3, the amplitude sensitivity is increased with the increase
of analyte RI and vice-versa. The proposed sensor shows the
Amplitude Sens. (RIU-1)
Amplitude Sens. (RIU-1)

0 0

-200 minimum amplitude sensitivity of 209 RIU-1 at analyte RI 1.33

-400
-400
Analyte RI
and maximum amplitude sensitivity of 1,212 RIU-1 at analyte
Analyte RI
-600
1.33 -800 1.33 RI 1.38 for x-polarized mode, which is comparable with ref.
-800 1.34 1.34
1.35 1.35 [29]. On the other hand, the minimum amplitude sensitivity of
-1000 1.36 -1200 1.36
-1200 1.37
x-pol.
1.37
y-pol.
207 RIU-1 at analyte RI 1.33 and maximum amplitude
1.38 1.38
-1400 -1600 sensitivity of 1,506 RIU-1 at analyte RI 1.38, respectively for y-
500 700 900 1100 500 700 900 1100
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm) polarized mode. The amplitude interrogation method shows
(e)
maximum sensor resolution at analyte RI 1.38 which is
1200
y = 207143na2 – 555714na + 373333 8.25×10-6 RIU and 6.64×10-6 RIU for x- and y-polarized
Resonant Wave. (nm)

1100 R² = 0.9516
y = 159524na2 – 427476na + 287003 modes, respectively. The sensor resolution is obtained by
R² = 0.9656
1000
Resonant Wave (X-pol) considering minimum 1% transmitted intensity can be detected
900 Resonant Wave (Y-pol)
by the sensor [6]. Also, proposed sensor is able to detect 10 -6
800 order of smallest RI change.
700 From the Table 1, it is clearly visible that with the increase
600 of analyte RI, the sensor exhibits the narrow resonance peak.
1.32 1.34 1.36 1.38 1.4
Analyte RI (na)

TABLE I
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED SENSOR
Analyte Polarization Peak Loss Res. Peak Res. peak Wavelength Wavelength FWHM Amp. FOM
RI mode (dB/cm) Wave. Shift sensitivity resolution (nm) sens.
(nm) (nm) (nm/RIU) (RIU) (RIU-1)
1.33 x-polarization 54 620 20 2,000 5×10-5 43 209 47
y-polarization 77 620 20 2,000 5×10-5 39 207 51
1.34 x-polarization 65 640 30 3,000 3.33×10-5 43 292 70
y-polarization 97 640 30 3,000 3.33×10-5 37 286 81
1.35 x-polarization 86 670 40 4,000 2.5×10-5 41 409 93
y-polarization 120 670 30 3,000 3.33×10-5 38 438 79
1.36 x-polarization 114 710 60 6,000 1.66×10-5 39 650 154
y-polarization 155 700 50 5,000 2×10-5 38 784 132
1.37 x-polarization 140 770 90 9,000 1.11×10-5 46 919 196
y-polarization 194 750 90 9,000 1.11×10-5 43 1188 209
1.38 x-polarization 191 860 300 30,000 3.33×10-6 59 1212 508
y-polarization 296 840 220 22,000 4.54×10-6 44 1506 500
1.39 x-polarization 118 1160 N/A N/A N/A 85 N/A N/A
y-polarization 251 1060 N/A N/A N/A 128 N/A N/A

1558-1748 (c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2880161, IEEE Sensors
Journal
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maximum amplitude sensitivity of 209 and 206 RIU-1 for gold

Because of this change the full–width-half-maximum (FWHM)
value is decreased significantly. However, after a certain
analyte RI, the spectrum starts to broaden. The proposed sensor
shows the FWHM of 59 nm and 44 nm which leads to the
maximum Figure of Merits (FOM) of 508 and 500 for x- and y-
polarized modes, respectively at na=1.38. Figure of merits
(Sensitivity/ FWHM) is defined as the ratio of sensitivity to
full-width-half-maximum. FOM indicates the quality
performance of a device. In general, to realize a high-
performance sensor, the FOM should be as high as possible that
can be obtained when the sensitivity increases and FWHM
decreases. Polynomial fitting of the proposed sensor with
respect to analyte RI changes from 1.33  na  1.39 shown in
Fig. 3(e), where it is visible that proposed sensor shows the
fitting response R2= 0.9516 and R2=0.9656 for x- and y-
polarized modes, respectively at 2nd order polynomial fit.
(a)
70
40 nm, na=1.33
60 40 nm, na=1.34
50 nm, na=1.33
50
Loss(dB/cm)
layer thickness 40 nm and minimum amplitude sensitivity of
140 and 144 RIU-1 for gold thickness of 60 nm in x-and y-
polarized modes, respectively.
All the parameters significantly affect the sensing
performance. From the fabrication point of view, we have
considered all the parameters and the fabrication tolerance has
also been investigated to optimize the maximum sensing
performance. Figure 5 shows the air-hole variations effects on
sensor. The cladding air-hole diameter (d) has an important
impact on the sensing performance by forming the phase
matching phenomena [30]. After numerical investigations, we
set the optimum diameter d = 0.8Λ for the large air hole. Due
to increase of diameter (d), the effective index of core-guided
mode is reduced as a result, the propagation loss is increased
and shows the red shift of resonant wavelength (see Fig. 5a &
5b). On the other hand, while the diameter (d) value is set less
than 0.8Λ, loss depth is diminished dramatically. As a result,
core-mode and SPP mode interaction for the sample detection
(b)
100 is decreased. Considering these aspects, signal to noise ratio and
40 nm, na=1.33
x-pol. 40 nm, na=1.34 y-pol. overall sensor performance, we adjusted the diameter d = 0.8Λ.
80 50 nm, na=1.33

50 nm, na=1.34
Loss (dB/cm)

50 nm, na=1.34
60 nm, na=1.33 60 nm, na=1.33
40 60 (a)
60 nm, na=1.34 60 nm, na=1.34 (b)
30 10% 10% y-pol.
40 80 x-pol. 80
5% 5%
20 optimum(d) optimum(d)

Loss (dB/cm)
-5%
Loss (dB/cm)

20 60 -5% 60
10 -10%
-10%
0 0
510 550 590 630 670 710 510 550 590 630 670 710 40 40
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)
(c) (d) 20 20
60 60
Amp. Sensitivity (RIU-1)

x-pol. y-pol.
Amp. Sensitivity (RIU-1)

0 0
0 0 520 570 620 670 720 520 570 620 670 720
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)
-60 -60
(c) (d)
80
-120 -120 5% 5%
40 nm x-pol. 80 y-pol.
40 nm optimum(ds) optimum(ds)
50 nm 60 -5%
-180 50 nm -5%
Loss (dB/cm)

60 nm
-180 Loss(dB/cm) -10%
60 nm 60
-10%
-240 -240 40
520 560 600 640 680 720 520 560 600 640 680 720 40
Wavelength(nm) Wavelength (nm)
20 20
Fig. 4. (a, b) Loss spectrum with varying gold thickness and (c, d) amplitude
sensitivity with varying gold thickness at analyte RI 1.33. 0 0
520 560 600 640 680 720 520 560 600 640 680 720
The sensor performance highly depends on the variation of Wavelength (nm) Wavelenth(nm)

gold layer as surface plasmon wave is generated by the metal

Fig. 5. Fabrication tolerance effects on parameter optimization. (a) x-polarized
layer. Due to damping effects, loss depth is decrease with the loss spectrum for large air hole diameter variation at analyte RI 1.33, (b) y-
increase of gold layer [20]. Fig. 4 (a) and (b) shows the result polarized loss spectrum for air hole diameter variation at analyte RI 1.33, (c)
for variation of gold thickness at analytes RI 1.33 & 1.34. It is small air hole (ds) diameter variation for x-polarized mode and (d) small air
clearly noticeable that loss depth is reduced with the increase of hole (ds) diameter variation for y-polarized mode when other design parameters
are set to: Λ = 1.80 µm and tg = 40 nm.
gold layer thickness and vice-versa for both x- and y-polarized
modes. At analyte RI 1.33, the maximum loss depth shows for
40 nm thickness of the gold layer is 54 and 77 dB for x- and y- According to Fig. 5 (a) and (b), it seems that the increment and
polarized modes, respectively. However, the minimum loss decrement of the air hole diameter effect on x-polarized mode
depth about 12 and 18 dB/cm for x-and y- polarized modes are is stronger than the y-polarized mode. Besides, all the small air
observed at tg=60 nm. Fig. 4 (c) and (d) shows the amplitude holes diameter variation affects the sensing shown in Fig. 5 (c)
sensitivity for the change of gold thickness in both x- and y- and (d) for x- and y-polarized modes, respectively. The small
polarized modes, respectively. According to the Fig. 4, air-hole diameter (ds) has also an important impact on the
amplitude sensitivity shows the red-shift for increasing the sensing performance by forming the phase matching
thickness of the gold layer. With the increase of gold thickness, phenomena. We optimized the scaled-down air-hole diameter
a weak interaction is generated between the evanescent field is ds = 0.2Λ. According to figure, it is clearly visible that the
and analyte, resulting the reduced amplitude sensitivity [20]. scaled-down air-hole diameter (ds) has significant effect on
For the analyte RI 1.33, the proposed sensor shows the sensing performance in both x- and y- polarized modes.

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Fig. 6. Pitch variation effects on sensing with loss spectrum for (a) x-polarized,
(a) (b) and (b) y- polarized mode at analyte RI 1.33. Liquid layer thickness variation
70 100
10% x-pol. 10% y-pol. effects on sensing for (c) x-polarized mode and (d) y-polarized mode. PML
60 5% 5% layer effects on sensing for (e) x-polarized and (f) y-polarized modes.
80 optimum(Λ)
optimum(Λ)
50

Loss (dB/cm)
Loss (dB/cm)

-5% -5%
40 60 If the value of ds is gradually decreased, the light is more
30
concentrated through the core, as a result, loss depth is reduced
40
in both polarized modes (Fig. 5(c) & 5(d)) but, the resonant
20
20 wavelength remain unchanged. On the contrary, with the
10
increase of ds, more light penetrate through the cladding reason
0 0
510 550 590 630 670 710 520 560 600 640 680 720 as a result loss is increase and strongly coupled with the sensing
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm) medium.
(d)
(c) 120
Liquid layer Liquid layer y-pol.
In addition, Fig. 6 shows the loss depth based on pitch, liquid
x-pol.
60 Thickness 100 Thickness
0.80 µm
layer thickness and PML thickness variation. If we increase the
0.80 µm
pitch size gradually, loss spectrum is reduced dramatically and
Loss (dB/cm)

1.00 µm 1.00 µm
Loss (dB/cm)

80
45 1.20 µm 1.20 µm
1.40 µm 60
1.40 µm vice-versa in both x- and y-polarized modes. Also resonant
1.60 µm 1.60 µm
30 peak shift to higher wavelength with decreasing pitch size
40
and shift to lower wavelength with increasing pitch size in both
15
20 x-and y-polarized modes. Due to the increase of pitch size, the
0 0 refractive index contrast is reduced between core-guided mode
520 560 600 640 680 720 520 560 600 640 680 720
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)
and SPP mode, resulting loss depth is notably decreased.
(e) 60
(f) According to the Fig. 6 (a) and (b), with 10% increase of the
PML Thickness x-pol. 80
PML Thickness y-pol. pitch size, the loss spectrum is decreased about 26 dB/cm and
10% 10%
45 5% 5%
35 dB/cm; also, resonant peak shifts from 620 to 610 nm and
Loss (dB/cm)

Loss (dB/cm)

Optimum
-5%
60 Optimum
-5%
620 to 600 nm in both x- and y-polarized modes, respectively.
30 -10% -10% For the 5% decrease of pitch size, the loss depth is increased
40
about 11 dB/cm and 15 dB/cm; moreover, resonant peak moves
15
20 from 620 to 630 nm in both x- and y-polarized modes. Analytes
will pass through on top of the gold surface. It can be noted that
0 0
520 560 600 640 680 720 520 560 600 640 680 720 a wide liquid layer is more compatible to flow the analyte
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm) easily, as a result sensor will able to detect the analyte
efficiently.

TABLE II
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON WITH REPORTED SENSORS
Ref. Structure type RI Range Polarization Wave. Resolution Amp. Reso.
Mode Sens. (Wave. Int.)Sens. (Amp. nt.)
(nm/RIU) (RIU-1) (RIU-1) (RIU-1)
[6] Internal metal coated PCF 1.33-142 y-pol 11,000 9.1×10-6 1,420 7×10-6
SPR sensor
[20] Spiral PCF-Based Dual- 1.33-1.38 x-pol 4,300 2.32×10-5 371.5 2.69×10-5
Polarized SPR sensor y-pol 4,600 2.17×10-5 420.4 2.37×10-5
[31] Birefringent, single-layer 1.40-1.43 y-pol 15,180 5.68×10-6 N/A N/A
coating PCF SPR sensor
[32] Multi-coating PCF SPR at 1.40-1.44 N/A 9,600 1.04×10-5 1739.26 5.75×10-6
near-infrared wavelength
[33] D-shaped PCF refractive 1.33-1.38 x-pol 10,493 9.53×10-6 N/A N/A
index sensor based on SPR
[34] Gold coated D-shaped PCF 1.20-1.40 y-pol 3751.5 1×10-5 N/A N/A
based on SPR sensor
This Dual-polarized PCF based 1.33-1.39 x-pol 30,000 3.33×10-6 1,212 8.2×10-6
work Plasmonic Biosensor
y-pol 22,000 4.54×10-6 1,506 6.64×10-6

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Actuators B: Chemical 12, 213-220 (1993). National University, Australia. He has
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and F. M. Adikan, "Highly sensitive multi-core flat fiber travel grants, and working as an active
surface plasmon resonance refractive index sensor," reviewer for a number of journals. His
Optics express 24, 2485-2495 (2016). research work focuses on surface plasmon
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Khaleque, "Twin Core Photonic Crystal Fiber Plasmonic Early Detection, School of Medicine,
Refractive Index Sensor," IEEE Sensors Journal (2018). Stanford University, USA. His research
30. C. Liu, L. Yang, W. Su, F. Wang, T. Sun, Q. Liu, H. Mu, focus is on micro- and nano-technologies
and P. K. Chu, "Numerical analysis of a photonic crystal based biomedical opto-fluidic devices.
fiber based on a surface plasmon resonance sensor with an He has published over 40 peer-reviewed
annular analyte channel," Optics Communications 382, journal articles, secured several
162-166 (2017). prestigious research awards and travel grants, working as an
31. M. Liu, X. Yang, P. Shum, and H. Yuan, "High-sensitivity active editor and reviewer for a number of journals.
birefringent and single-layer coating photonic crystal fiber

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSEN.2018.2880161, IEEE Sensors
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Md. Saiful Islam is conducting his PhD in

the School of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering at The University of Adelaide,
Australia. Mr. Islam is a member of IEEE,
IEEE Photonic Society, Optical Society of
America (OSA) and Institute of Photonics &
Advanced Sensing (IPAS). His research
interests include optical fiber communication, PCF based
terahertz waveguides, terahertz sensors, surface plasmon
resonance biosensors.

Andrey E. Miroshnichenko is Associate

Professor and Scientia Fellow student at the
School of Engineering and Information
Technology, University of New South Wales
in Canberra, Australia. He leads the
“Advanced Electromagnetics” group and the
current topics of his research include
resonant light-matter interaction with the nanoparticles,
nonlinear nanophotonics, optical nanoantennas and
metamaterials.

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