Design and optimization of solid and hollow core PCF for analyte

sensing applications

Subiksha Prakash, Sujay Simha, Sarang Kalantre

*Under the guidance of Prabu K, Department of Electronics and communication Engineering, NITK

Abstract is n times higher than it would be in vacuum. The effective in-

dex has the same meaning for light propagation in a waveguide
In a solid-core or hollow-core PCF, structural parameters and and depends not only on the wavelength but also on the mode
the number of rings in the cladding region decide confinement in which the light propagates. The effective index may be a
losses, dispersion coefficients as well as bending losses. This complex quantity. In that case, the imaginary part describes
paper evaluates a commercially available and existent solid- gain or loss.
core and hollow-core photonic crystal fibers used for analyte
sensing.The effective refractive index of the structure is com-
puted for various parameters using COMSOL Multiphysics. 4 Effect of Structural Parameters on Effective
Refractive Index
1 Introduction
The first step is it is assumed that the PCF s are made of silica
Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are thin silica glass fibers pos-
of background refractive index =1.45 and the holes are filled
sessing a regular array of microscopic holes that extend along
with air of refractive index of = 1.0 . The effective index can
the whole fiber length. PCFs designed appropriately possess
be controlled with the size of air holes in the first ring of the
the property of being single-mode i.e. they act as a single-
fiber. It can be seen from the simulation that The effective index
mode waveguide for all wavelengths. These unusual properties
decreases with an increase in hole diameter and in d/p ratio as
of PCFs have led to an increasing interest in their applications
shown in fig2 (a) and 2(b).The real part of the refractive index
in areas such as sensing, signal processing, and optical com-
increases with an increase in pitch p.
munication systems. SCPCFs (Solid Core PCFs) cross-section
presents a periodic array of air holes surrounding a solid core,
which extends along the length of the fiber. When using a 5 Results and Analysis
single material in the fiber manufacturing, this cross-sectional
configuration leads to a lowering of the cladding’s effective re- The structures implemented are as follows,
fractive index given that the solid core is made of the same 1. Solid-core circular PCF
material. The air holes close to the core boundaries act as sens- 2. Solid-core analyte sensing circular PCF
ing cavities when filled with the fluid under test as they affect 3.Solid-core hexagonal PCF
the guidance of the optical power through the solid core.For 4.Hollow-core analyte sensing hexagonal PCF
a hollow-core PCF, the center is filled with the analyte to be 5.Modified hexagonal PCF for optimized confinement
sensed and computations for confinement and effective refracv-
tive index are carried out.

2 Use of COMSOL multiphysics

The wave optics module of COMSOL is used to perform 2D
mode analysis of all the test fibers to determine the effective
index of the guided modes at wavelengths of interest. Air holes,
running along the length of the fiber, create new abilities for
the appropriate interaction between light and gases or liquids
through evanescent fields in the hole.

3 Optical Characteristics of PCF

Figure 1. Structure of solid core circular PCF implemented
3.1 Effective Refractive Index Dimension: Air Hole Radius:0.5um,Pitch Length:1.1um,Outer
In a homogeneous medium, the refractive index n can be used Circle Radius :7 um,Thickness of PML:2um
to quantify the phase change per unit length. That phase change
 5.2 Analysis of changes in refractive index with respect
to radius and pitch

In the below graph it is observed that the effective refractive

index decreases with an increase in hole radius and increases
with increase in r/p ratio.

circle plot (1).PNG

Figure 2. Mesh analysis of solid core circular PCF imple-

mented

5.1 Difference between solid-core circular PCF with and

without analyte

The following images depict confinement of light of wave-

length 1.55um in figures 3 and 4. The difference of electric
field confinement is visible. In figure 3 the field is purely con-
fined within the solid silica glass core where as in figure 4 it
is more dispersed extending to the analyte filled holes which Figure 5. Electric field confinement in solid core circular PCF
are the first layer from the center. The analyte used here is with methanol as analyte
methanol which has a refractive index of 1.33141.

5.3 Solid-core Hexagonal PCF

Figure 7 shows the electric field confinement which isn’t as

accurate due to which we proceed to the modified hexagonal
structure explained in detail in section 5.6.

Solid Core, Structure.png

Figure 3. Electric field confinement in solid core circular PCF

Figure 6. Structure of solid core hexagonal PCF implemented

Figure 4. Electric field confinement in solid core circular PCF Dimension: Air Hole Radius:0.5um,Pitch Length:1.1um,Outer
with methanol as analyte Circle Radius :7 um,Thickness of PML:2um
 Solid Core, Confinement.png Core - Ethanol, Structure.png

Figure 9. Structure of hollow core hexagonal PCF with analte

Figure 7. Electric field confinement in solid core hexagonal
filled core implemented
PCF
Dimension: Air Hole Radius:0.5um,Pitch Length:1.1um,Outer
Circle Radius :7 um,Thickness of PML:2um

5.4 Analysis of changes in refractive index with respect

Core - Ethanol, Confinement.png
to pitch

In figure 8 it is observed that the effective refractive index in-

creases with an increase in pitch.

vs P, Solid Core, Hexagon.PNG

Figure 10. Electric field confinement in hollow core hexagonal

PCF with ethanol filled core

5.6 Modified hexagonal PCF for optimized confinement

The optimized Hexagonal PCF has the following dimensions;

Figure 8. Electric field confinement in solid core hexagonal Air hole diameter= 5.15um
PCF Pitch length:10.6 um
Outer circle diameter: 173um with PML thickness 25um
In this structure we obtain better confinement as compared to
figure 7, which is a simple hexagonal PCF structure.

5.5 Hollow-core analyte sensing Hexagonal PCF

The following is the structure of the hollow-core structure with
the hole at the center being filled with ethanol which has re-
fractive index of 1.36. Figure 10 shows the electric field con-
finement.
5.7 Effect of change of radius on effective refractive
index of the modified hexagonal structure
As radius increases effective refractive index is observed to de-
crease which is depicted in figure 14.
 struct.PNG

hexa plot (2).PNG

Figure 11. Structure of modified solid core hexagonal PCF

mesh.PNG

Figure 13. Effective refractive index vs radius

Figure 12. Mesh analysis of modified hexagon solid core PCF

implemented

6 References
1.Commercial Solid Core Photonic Crystal Fibers for Sensing
Applications
G.LATHA1, PRITA NAIR2
conf.PNG
Department of physics, Optical network research Labs SSN
College of Engineering, Anna University
2.Photonic Crystal Fibers for Sensing Applications
Boni Amin Riyadh SM, Md. Mahbub Hossain, Himadri Sekhar
Mondal, Md. Ekhlasur Rahaman, Pankoj Kumar Mondal and
Md. Mehadi Hasan Mahasin
Electronics and Communication Engineering, Khulna Univer-
sity, Khulna, Bangladesh
3.Design and Simulation for Highly Nonlinear Solid-Core Pho-
tonic Crystal Fiber
Arati Kumari Shah, Rajesh Kumar
4.Study of Confinement Loss in Photonic Crystal Fiber
Md. Mahbub Hossain,Md. Maniruzzaman
Electronics and Communication Engineering Discipline Figure 14. Enhanced electric field confinement exhibited by
Khulna University the modified hexagonal PCF structure
Khulna, Bangladesh