Dual elliptical core-based photonic crystal sensor for detection of ultra-low-level bioethanol concentration

In this paper, we elucidate the design and investigate an asymmetric dual elliptical core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) for bioethanol sensors with high sensitivity and ultra-low concentration detection capabilities. Unlike conventional fiber designs with circular air gaps, the proposed PCF has two asymmetric elliptical cores for improved performance metrics. The sensor is based on the unique property of dependence of effective refractive index of medium on ethanol concentration. Modeling and simulation have been performed with a multi-physics finite element method (FEM) software. Simulation results depict that for a 2-cm-long proposed fiber, the average wavelength sensitivity is 4.581 nm/%. The sensor reported in this work, therefore, represents a feasible solution for real-time and continuous monitoring of bioethanol concentration during its industrial production.