Low Loss Microstructure Optical Fiber Refractive Index Sensor based on Surface Plasmon Resonance

We propose a simple rectangular lattice microstructure optical fiber (MOF) based plasmonic refractive index (RI) sensor for analyte sensing having RI range from 1.35 to 1.40. Sensitivity analysis of the suggested RI sensor is done by finite element method (FEM). Simulation result shows that amplitude and wavelength sensitivity of the presented RI sensor can reach 1200 RIU-1 and 12,000 nm/RIU, respectively, while corresponding resolution is obtained of 8.33 × 10-6 RIU. In addition, deposition of gold film outside the MOF structure makes this sensor practically feasible as well as keeps the confinement loss very low. Due to these advantages, the suggested sensor can be used in analyte sensing application.