Photonic crystal fibers (PCF) have been extensively investigated for chemical, bio-medical, and environmental sensing applications. PCF provides a unique platform for realizing the desired modal dispersion, birefringence, confinement, and multiplicity characteristics. This can be attributed to the freedom in designing the microstructure geometry. Of significant importance for sensing applications, various chemical, biological, and inorganic materials can be introduced by selective infiltration of the holes or using deposition techniques. PCF sensors often involve structural and electromagnetic field features that span multiple orders of magnitude in variation, e.g. sub-wavelength metal films supporting tightly confined surface plasmon modes in a PCF with mode areas, air-holes and cladding dimensions of 10s and 100s of wavelength, respectively. These properties require a mode solver that can both efficiently and accurately approximate the geometry and the electromagnetic fields over the entire simulation domain.
Full Application Note
