Numerical simulations of a simple refractive index sensor based on side-hole optical fibres

Abstract

In this work the influence of the cavity parameters on optical losses of a simple intensity-based in-line refractive index sensor utilizing a micromachined side-hole fibre was studied by means of numerical simulations. To perform these simulations, the Authors used the finite-difference time-domain method. The proposed sensor setup consists of light source, micromachined optical fibre as a sensor head, and a detector which makes it low-cost and easy to build. The changes of the external refractive index can be, therefore, recovered by direct measurements of the transmitted intensity from which insertion loss values can be calculated. By changing geometry of the cavity micromachined into the side-hole optical fibre, it was possible to determine its influence on the final sensor sensitivity and measurements range. Based on the provided analysis of simulations results, a simple fibre optic sensor can be fabricated mainly for sensing external liquids refractive index for application in biochemistry or healthcare.