Numerical analysis of a photonic crystal fiber based on a surface plasmon resonance sensor with an annular analyte channel

A sensing structure is designed with a photonic crystal fiber based on a surface plasmon resonance (PCF-SPR) sensor using gold as the sensitive material. The benefit of the structure is to reduce the difficulty in gold deposition, because the Au film is deposited on the outside of the fiber core instead of on the holes filled with analyte inside the core. The properties of the sensor are numerically calculated by the finite element method. The results show that the thickness of the gold film, refractive index of the analyte, and radius of the central hole affect the sensing performance of the PCF-SPR. By optimizing the model, an extra graphene layer with the thickness of 20 nm is deposited on the gold film in the model. The maximum spectral sensitivity can be as high as 7500 nm/RIU for the sensor with the gold-graphene composite film as the sensitive material.