A Highly Versatile Porous Core Photonic Quasicrystal Fiber Based Refractive Index Terahertz Sensor

Sensors (Basel). 2022 May 3;22(9):3469. doi: 10.3390/s22093469.

Abstract

Miniaturized real-time fiber optic sensing systems with high sensing performance are in extreme demand. In this work, we propose a novel photonic quasicrystal fiber sensor in the terahertz region and test its sensing characteristics using the finite element method. The proposed simulated sensor numerically investigates the cancer-infected cells from the normal cells in the human cervix, blood, adrenal glands, and breast based on the difference in their refractive index changes. The effective refractive index of core-guided mode is due to the interaction of light between the refractive index of the fiber material and infiltrated normal and cancer cells, respectively. The proposed sensor exhibits a high birefringence of 0.03, a low dispersion of 0.35 ps/THz/cm, along with a high numerical aperture of 0.99. Besides, the sensor holds a less-effective material loss of 2.53 × 10-9 (dB/cm), a maximum power fraction of 88.10, a maximum relative sensitivity of 82.67%, and an effective mode area of 3.16 mm2. The results envisage that the proposed sensor displays high sensing performances with a rapid cancer detection mechanism.

Keywords: photonic quasicrystal fibers; refractive index sensors; terahertz optical fibers.

MeSH terms

  • Equipment Design
  • Female
  • Fiber Optic Technology*
  • Humans
  • Photons
  • Porosity
  • Refractometry*