Temperature effects on surface plasmon resonance sensor based on side-polished D-shaped photonic crystal fiber

A comprehensive temperature Drude theoretical mode has been established to study the temperature effects on the side-polished photonic crystal fiber (PCF) surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. In the theoretical model, the temperature dependence coefficients of fiber material refractive index (RI), sensing film thickness and metaldielectric function have been considered. The finite element method (FEM) is used to study the influence of sidepolished depth, metal thickness, air hole size, and lattice constant on sensing performance with findings as following: (1) the dependence of the resonance wavelength on temperature is almost unaffected by duty ratio or lattice pitch of PCF; (2) the peak loss of the PCF SPR sensor with small lattice pitch (or increased duty ratio) is more sensitive to temperature variation; (3) for the sensor working in intensity interrogation mode, linear relationships can be found between the peak loss versus the RI and temperature. Moreover, we fabricate a sidepolished D-shaped PCF SPR sensor by a wheel polishing setup, and the experimental results display a good agreement with the theoretical investigations. This study offers a detailed way to analyze the temperature effects on the sensor, and may lead to the better design and the data-progress improvement for D-shaped PCF SPR sensor.

Automated summary

A comprehensive temperature Drude theoretical model has been established to study the effects of temperature on side-polished photonic crystal fiber surface plasmon resonance sensors. The finite element method was used to analyze the influence of various parameters on sensor performance, revealing different sensitivity levels to temperature changes. The experimental results of a side-polished D-shaped PCF SPR sensor show good agreement with the theoretical investigations, suggesting potential for improved sensor design and data processing.