Tuberculosis detection using a low-loss and highly sensitive photonic crystal fiber technique in the terahertz regime

Abstract

This research paper introduces a design and numerical investigation of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensor with a hollow core. The sensor is specifically designed to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the frequency range of 1–2 THz. The cladding region of the PCF sensor incorporates six rectangular air holes and an absorbing layer known as the perfectly matched layer (PML), which is utilized to examine various optical properties. Through a thorough investigation, our designed PCF sensor demonstrates enhanced sensitivity of 98.692%, 98.721%, 98.75%, and 98.764% for four different infected samples of tuberculosis at a frequency of 1.6 THz. The sensor exhibits minimal confinement loss and effective material loss. Furthermore, the numerical aperture and effective mode index of the proposed sensor are analyzed. An effective area of  346,550, 345,110, 343,710, and 343,020µm2 for the four different infected samples of tuberculosis is obtained. The fabrication methods employed for this sensor are mentioned. Overall, this PCF sensor can be promising for a wide range of chemical, gas, and biosensing applications.