Highly sensitive photonic crystal fiber plasmonic biosensor: Design and analysis

In this paper, a highly sensitive photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor is proposed and analyzed. Well-known hexagonal lattice with all circular air holes as well as metal deposition outside the PCF surface gives this sensor a straightforward design. Using the finite element method (FEM), sensing performances are investigated in the measurement range from 1.33 to 1.40. The maximum amplitude sensitivities are reached to 1086 RIU−1 and 1656 RIU−1 and maximum wavelength sensitivity is obtained about 12,000 nm/RIU for both plasmonic material gold and silver, respectively, in the y-polarized propagation mode. Owing to the simple design and high sensitivity, the proposed biosensor can be applicable to detect the biochemical and biological samples.