Numerical investigation of gold plated single-core photonic crystal fiber-based refractive index sensor

Abstract

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based single-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) biosensor is investigated with external gold coating. All the geometrical parameters such as a gold layer, an analyte layer, a lattice period and cladding air holes are optimized to enhance the sensing ability of the sensor by introducing the finite element method. The designed sensor is able to achieve the highest amplitude sensitivity (AS) of 2258.95 RIU[Formula: see text] with an acceptable refractive index sensitivity (RIS) of 6000 nm/RIU over the analyte refractive index (ARI) span of 1.31–1.40. This sensor can detect a slight index alteration in the sensing medium using a resolution of [Formula: see text] and a high figure of merit (FOM) of 79.01. With the enhanced modal behavior with simple geometry, the resulting sensor can be suitable for real-time monitoring in biological, biochemical and bio-imaging applications.