Amphibious sensor of temperature and refractive index based on D-shaped photonic crystal fibre filled with liquid crystal

ABSTRACT

A D-shaped photonic crystal fibre filled with liquid crystal was demonstrated as an amphibious sensor for detection of both temperature and refractive index, when combined with plasma materials. Specifically, the optical component is implanted into a complete optical system ensuring modulation of the external electric field. When the refractive index of the external solution changes from 1.0 to 1.6, the y-polarised mode has a loss spectrum with a wavelength sensitivity of up to 2275 nm/RIU, and the corresponding amplitude sensitivity is −88.2RIU⁻¹. When the perceived temperature changes from 15°C to 50°C, the temperature of the sensor is correspondingly expressed as the maximum wavelength sensitivity of 9.09 nm/°C and the amplitude sensitivity of −0.311°C⁻¹. In addition, the actual micro-operation processes have been studied in detail, such as polishing depth, coating thickness and coating method. This provides practical ideas for real-time sensing analysis that requires harsh environments.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Fibre optics sensors
• surface plasmon resonance
• photonic crystal fibre
• sensitivity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Program of the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province [No. F2017203193, F2017203110], the Postdoctoral Preferred Funding Research Project of Hebei Province [No. B2018003008], the 2018 College Students Scientific and Technological Innovation Entrepreneurial Project of Qinhuangdao City [No. 240110—24] and the Youth Project on Basic Research of Yanshan University [No. 16LGA011].