Highly sensitive photonic crystal fiber chemical sensor for detecting carbon disulfide and bromoform in the THz regime

Abstract

In this study, an innovative photonic crystal fiber (PCF) designed specifically for the detection of carbon disulfide and bromoform liquid chemicals within the THz frequency range was introduced. The PCF's structural design was achieved using the Finite Element Method (FEM) and Perfectly Matched Layer (PML) boundary conditions within COMSOL Multiphysics, ensuring precision through appropriate numerical parameters. Six distinct configurations were developed, incorporating circular, square, rectangular slotted, benzene-shaped circular, and two elliptical core designs, as well as an eight-elliptical core design. The PCF models were constructed utilizing the dielectric material TOPAS for accurate simulation and analysis. Various crucial parameters of the proposed PCF were examined across a wide THz spectrum spanning from 0.2 to 1.2 THz. The PCF model exhibited a peak output at the operating frequency of 0.8 THz for the square-shaped core design, achieving a relative sensitivity of 96.891% for bromoform and 95.603% for carbon disulfide. Remarkably low material losses of 0.0081104 cm-1 for bromoform and 0.006703 cm-1 for carbon disulfide were observed, along with a core power fraction of 93.107% for bromoform and 94.263% for carbon disulfide. The effective area was determined to be 1.77 × 10-07 µm2 for bromoform and 1.70 × 10-07 µm2 for carbon disulfide, while the confinement loss measured 2.25 × 10-17 dB/cm for bromoform and 4.76 × 10-17 dB/cm for carbon disulfide. These superior attributes strongly suggest that this model will be crucial in applications like supercontinuum generation, sensing, and biomedical imaging.