U-shaped photonic quasi-crystal fiber sensor with high sensitivity based on surface plasmon resonance

A U-shaped external photonic quasi-crystal fiber (PQF) sensor based on surface plasmon resonance is proposed for refractive index (RI) sensing. The advantages of sensing with metal/liquid surface plasmon polariton (SPP) mode are summarized. The gold/liquid SPP mode is excited and used for sensing in the U-shaped external PQF, which can detect a small variation of the analyte RI. The maximum sensitivity of the sensor is 33600 nm/RIU, and the average sensitivity is 21643.75 nm/RIU within the detection RI range of 1.420–1.436. The U-shaped PQF sensor will provide a new design idea for the RI sensor with high sensitivity.