An Investigation of High-Performance Pressure Sensor Employing a Polymer-Defect-Based 1D Annular Photonic Crystal

Abstract

This study aims to theoretically address the design and analysis of an efficient pressure sensor designed using a polymer-based defective 1D annular photonic crystal (APC). The 1D APC comprises an alternate arrangement of Si and SiO2 in a cylindrical fashion, incorporating a central defect layer. The investigation of the reflectance characteristics of the proposed structure is conducted by separately considering the polystyrene (PS) and the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymer materials as the defect layer. The pressure-sensitive refractive index of the polymers and the constituent materials of the APC play a vital role in envisaging the pressure-sensing application. The cornerstone of this study is represented by the shift analysis regarding the wavelength of the defect mode inside the band gap using different applied pressures, employing the modified transfer matrix method (MTMM). Various geometrical parameters like the defect polymer layer’s thickness and the APC period were carefully optimized to achieve an improved sensing performance. The proposed design demonstrated a remarkable pressure sensitivity and FoM of 51.29 nm/GPa and 301.7 GPa−1, respectively, which is considerably high in the current research scenario. It is believed that the proposed structure can be an apt candidate for an innovative high-performance pressure sensor, and could play a key role in photonic integrated circuits.