Abstract
A photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensor comprises two sensing channels for magnetic field and temperature measurements is proposed. In order to make the SPR detection of magnetic field and temperature effectively, the two sensing channels of the proposed sensor are embedded with gold nanowires and filled with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and magnetic fluid (MF), respectively. Additionally, this configuration simplifies the fabrication process and eliminate some problems when plasmonic material is deposited in inner or outer surface of PCF. The performance of the sensor is numerically investigated by the finite element method (FEM). The optimal structural parameters have been determined by analyzing the loss curves and energy of the y-polarized code mode ultimately. Furthermore, the sensitivity is not particularly sensitive to the sizes of the cladding air holes, indicating high fault tolerance. The simulation results reveal the maximum magnetic field sensitivity is 238.4 pm/Oe at the magnetic field of 30–300 Oe, and temperature sensitivity is -1043.6 pm/°C at the temperature of -20-40°C. Given its low fabrication complexity and extensive detection range, this PCF-SPR sensor has potential applications in geological exploration, marine environment monitoring and other fields, especially suitable for detection of magnetic signals in low temperature environment.