Highly sensitive photonic crystal gamma ray dosimeter

A highly sensitive 2D Si photonic crystal (PhC) sensor is proposed and analyzed for the detection of gamma-ray doses in the visible light region. The suggested PhC has a cavity infiltrated by poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer doped with crystal violet and carbol fuchsine dyes. The transmission through the proposed design has a peak at the resonance frequency, which is sensitive to the gamma-ray doses. The geometrical parameters of the suggested PhC are studied to maximize the sensor sensitivity, quality factor, and normalized transmission. The proposed sensor achieves high sensitivity of 150 nm per refractive index unit (nm/RIU) with high linearity and high-quality factor (Q) of 808. The analysis is carried out using full-vectorial finite-element method and the plane wave expansion method. To the best of the author's knowledge, it is the first time to use 2D-PhC technology for gamma-ray detection.

Automated summary

A highly sensitive 2D Si photonic crystal sensor is proposed for gamma-ray dose detection in the visible light region, achieving high sensitivity, linearity, and quality factor. The sensor design includes a cavity filled with a polymer doped with dyes and the analysis is conducted using finite-element and plane wave expansion methods. This is the first application of 2D-PhC technology for gamma-ray detection.