Enhancement of relative sensitivity of photonic crystal fiber with high birefringence and low confinement loss

In this article, we demonstrate a unique hexagonal lattice structure of Photonic Crystal Fiber for liquid sensing applications. Relative sensitivity, confinement loss and birefringence of the structure have been investigated theoretically. The numerical inquiry has been taken place using the full vectorial Finite Element Method (FEM). We have shown a comparative performance analysis between two lattice structures of the proposed Photonic Crystal Fiber. It is found that the presence of elliptic air holes instead of circular air holes in the core region and the innermost ring of the cladding bring higher birefringence With high sensitivity and low confinement loss. According to the simulated results, at 1.33 mu m operating wavelength, the birefringence, confinement loss, and relative sensitivity of the suggested PCF are 2.825 x 10(-3), 2.07 x 10(-6) dB/m and 43.84% respectively for Ethanol filled core. (C) 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.