Employing metamaterial and Ti3C2Tx (MXene) material for cancer cells detection using defective 1D photonic crystal

The present research proposes a novel design of defect-based 1D photonic crystal (PhC) for the detection of different categories of cancer cells like basal, Jurkat, PC-12 and MCF-7. The proposed structure is comprised of an alternating arrangement of metamaterial and SiO2 with a central defect layer coated with Ti3C2Tx (MXene) material. Numerous geometrical parameters such as thickness of MXene, metamaterial, SiO2 layers, thickness of the defect layer, and number of period of the PhC are judiciously optimized to envisage high performance. The transmission and absorption characteristics of the structure are investigated by employing well-established transfer matrix method. The backbone of this work lies in the measurement of shift in the resonant wavelength with respect to different normal and cancer cells. The effect of variation in the thickness of the defect layer and the incident angle on the resonant wavelength are studied through 3D colormap plot. The impact of loss tangent on the transmission spectrum is explored. The sensor delivers a remarkable sensitivity, quality factor, figure of merit, resolution and detection limit of 3142.85 nm/RIU, 1451.76, 3697.47 1/RIU, 0.2110 nm and 6.71×10-5\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$6.71 \times 10^{ - 5}$$\end{document} respectively. On top of that, the easy analysis, fabrication feasibility, label-free detection, and noteworthy sensing performance make the proposed structure an apt candidate for cancer cells sensor.