Phase modulation and structural effects in a D-shaped all-solid photonic crystal fiber surface plasmon resonance sensor

We numerically investigate a D-shaped fiber surface plasmon resonance sensor based on all-solid photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with finite element method. In the side-polished PCF sensor, field leakage is guided to penetrate through the gap between the rods, causing a pronounced phase modulation in the deep polishing case. Taking advantage of these amplified phase shifts, a high-performance fiber sensor design is proposed. The significant enhancements arising from this new sensor design should lift the performance of the fiber SPR sensor into the range capable of detecting a wide range of biochemical interactions, which makes it especially attractive for many in vivo and in situ bioanalysis applications. Several parameters which influence the field leakage, such as the polishing position, the pitch of the PCF, and the rod diameter, are inspected to evaluate their impacts. Furthermore, we develop a mathematical model to describe the effects of varying the structural parameters of a D-shaped PCF sensor on the evanescent field and the sensor performance. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America