Microstructure core photonic crystal fiber for gas sensing applications

In this paper, a highly sensitive gas sensor based on the microstructure core and cladding photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is presented over the wavelength range from 1.3 to 2.2 μm, which is advantageous for sensor fabrication. The guiding properties of the proposed structure are dependent on geometrical parameters and wavelengths, which are numerically investigated by using a finite element method (FEM). Introducing the microstructure core makes it possible to obtain higher relative sensitivity and achieves low confinement loss. Moreover, it can be shown that increasing the diameter of the air holes in the microstructure core and decreasing the size of hole to hole space (pitch), the relative sensitivity is enhanced. In addition, the confinement loss is reduced by increasing the value of the diameter of the air holes in the cladding. Simulation results reveal that for the optimum design of the proposed PCF it is possible to obtain the highest relative sensitivity of about 42.27% at the wavelength λ=1.33  μm for the absorption line of methane (CH₄) and hydrogen fluoride (HF) gases. In this case, the confinement loss of the fiber is 4.78345×10^-6  dB/m.