Abstract
This research work deals with highly sensitive detection capabilities of dual core photonic crystal fiber(PhCF) biosensor. It works on the principal of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and consisted of hybrid coatings of graphene and gold layers for efficient detection of low refractive index (RI) values ranging from 1.30 to 1.39 in steps of 0.01 of bio-analytes. This design is integration of the superior plasmonic properties of gold with an exceptionally high absorptive and conductivity properties of graphene for improving the light–matter interaction, in addition to signal stability. The thicknesses of hybrid layer consisted of gold and graphene layers are optimized to make our design highly sensitive by using numerical simulations carried out in COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0 and MATLAB softwares. It yields thicknesses of gold and graphene layers to 40 nm and 9.52 nm respectively. The proposed design loaded separately with range of analytes of low refractive indices from 1.30 to 1.39 exhibiting an outstanding wavelength dependent sensitivity and resolution values of 30,000 nm/RIU and \(3.33\times 10^{-6}\) RIU, respectively apart from other promising values of various parameters. These results show that the proposed design possesses a significant improvement in performance over the existing counterparts. The proposed design points out the excellent sensing feature for precise, immediate and reliable detection of disease diagnostics and other biomedical sensing applications.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets of this research work will be provided by corresponding author (S.K.A.) on request to the concern.
References
Malek, C., Al-Dossari, M., Awasthi, S. & Aly, A. H. High performance biosensor for detection of the normal and cancerous liver tissues based on 1D photonic band gap material structures. Sensing and Imaging24, 27 (2023).
Fakhruldeen, H. F., Zahid, A. Z., Jaafar, R. M. & Abdulkareem, A. An overview of photonic crystal fiber (PCF). Indian J. Nat. Sci.9, 0976–0997 (2019).
Knight, J., Birks, T., Russell, P. S. J. & Atkin, D. All-silica single-mode optical fiber with photonic crystal cladding. Opt. Lett.21, 1547–1549 (1996).
Shah, A. K. & Kumar, R. A review on photonic crystal fibers. In International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Smart Communication 2019: Proceedings of ICSC 2019, 1241–1249 (Springer, 2019).
Shukla, N., Chetri, P., Boruah, R., Gogoi, A. & Ahmed, G. A. Surface plasmon resonance biosensors based on kretschmann configuration: basic instrumentation and applications. In Recent Advances in Plasmonic Probes: Theory and Practice, 191–222 (Springer, 2022).
Ahmed, T., Paul, A. K., Anower, M. S. & Razzak, S. A. Surface plasmon resonance biosensor based on hexagonal lattice dual-core photonic crystal fiber. Appl. Opt.58, 8416–8422 (2019).
Jorgenson, R. C. & Yee, S. S. A fiber-optic chemical sensor based on surface plasmon resonance. Sens. Actuators, B Chem.12, 213–220 (1993).
Ahmmed, R., Ahmed, R. & Razzak, S. A. Design of large negative dispersion and modal analysis for hexagonal, square, FCC and BCC photonic crystal fibers. In 2013 international conference on informatics, Electronics and vision (ICIEV), 1–6 (IEEE, 2013).
Aoni, R. A., Ahmed, R. & Razzak, S. A. Design and simulation of duel-concentric-core photonic crystal fiber for dispersion compensation. In CIOMP-OSA summer session on optical engineering, Design and manufacturing, Tu2 (Optica Publishing Group, 2013).
Rifat, A. A., Mahdiraji, G. A., Shee, Y., Shawon, M. J. & Adikan, F. M. A novel photonic crystal fiber biosensor using surface plasmon resonance. Procedia Eng.140, 1–7 (2016).
Sakib, M. N. et al. High performance dual core d-shape PCF-SPR sensor modeling employing gold coat. Results Phys.15, 102788 (2019).
Rifat, A. A. et al. Copper-graphene-based photonic crystal fiber plasmonic biosensor. IEEE Photonics J.8, 1–8 (2015).
Dash, J. N. & Jha, R. Graphene-based birefringent photonic crystal fiber sensor using surface plasmon resonance. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett.26, 1092–1095 (2014).
Saini, S. K., Maurya, V. C., Khatri, N. & Awasthi, S. K. Tamm-Fano resonance based glucose sensor consisted of al and distributed Bragg reflector in the visible regime. Opt. Quant. Electron.57, 655 (2025).
Ahmed, A. M. & Mehaney, A. Ultra-high sensitive 1d porous silicon photonic crystal sensor based on the coupling of Tamm/Fano resonances in the mid-infrared region. Sci. Rep.9, 6973 (2019).
Wieduwilt, T. et al. Ultrathin niobium nanofilms on fiber optical tapers-a new route towards low-loss hybrid plasmonic modes. Sci. Rep.5, 17060 (2015).
Ordal, M. A., Bell, R. J., Alexander, R. Jr., Long, L. L. & Querry, M. R. Optical properties of fourteen metals in the infrared and far infrared: Al, Co, Cu, Au, Fe, Pb, Mo, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ag, Ti, V, and W. Appl. Opt.24, 4493–4499 (1985).
Otupiri, R. et al. A novel birefrigent photonic crystal fiber surface plasmon resonance biosensor. IEEE Photonics J.6, 1–11 (2014).
Gao, D., Guan, C., Wen, Y., Zhong, X. & Yuan, L. Multi-hole fiber based surface plasmon resonance sensor operated at near-infrared wavelengths. Opt. Commun.313, 94–98 (2014).
Hasan, M. R. et al. Spiral photonic crystal fiber-based dual-polarized surface plasmon resonance biosensor. IEEE Sens. J.18, 133–140 (2017).
Peng, L. et al. A surface plasmon biosensor based on a d-shaped microstructured optical fiber with rectangular lattice. IEEE Photonics J.7, 1–9 (2017).
Dash, J. N. & Jha, R. SPR biosensor based on polymer PCF coated with conducting metal oxide. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett.26, 595–598. https://doi.org/10.1109/LPT.2014.2301153 (2014).
Luan, N., Wang, R., Lv, W. & Yao, J. Surface plasmon resonance sensor based on d-shaped microstructured optical fiber with hollow core. Opt. Express23, 8576–8582 (2015).
Yang, X., Lu, Y., Liu, B. & Yao, J. Analysis of graphene-based photonic crystal fiber sensor using birefringence and surface plasmon resonance. Plasmonics12, 489–496 (2017).
Zhang, Q. et al. A d-type dual side-polished, highly sensitive, plasma refractive index sensor based on photonic crystal fiber. Front. Phys.10, 1008784 (2022).
Rifat, A. et al. Surface plasmon resonance photonic crystal fiber biosensor: A practical sensing approach. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett.27, 1628–1631 (2015).
Hasan, M. R., Akter, S., Rifat, A. A. & Rana, S. A highly sensitive gold-coated photonic crystal fiber biosensor based on surface plasmon resonance. In Photonics Vol. 4 18 (MDPI, 2017).
Yang, X., Lu, Y., Wang, M. & Yao, J. An exposed-core grapefruit fibers based surface plasmon resonance sensor. Sensors15, 17106–17114 (2015).
Popescu, V., Puscas, N. & Perrone, G. Power absorption efficiency of a new microstructured plasmon optical fiber. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B29, 3039–3046 (2012).
An, G., Hao, X., Li, S., Yan, X. & Zhang, X. D-shaped photonic crystal fiber refractive index sensor based on surface plasmon resonance. Appl. Opt.56, 6988–6992 (2017).
Hasan, M. R., Akter, S., Ahmed, K. & Abbott, D. Plasmonic refractive index sensor employing niobium nanofilm on photonic crystal fiber. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett.30, 315–318 (2017).
Roggan, A., Friebel, M., Dörschel, K., Hahn, A. & Mueller, G. J. Optical properties of circulating human blood in the wavelength range 400–2500 nm. J. Biomed. Opt.4, 36–46 (1999).
Walsh, M. J. & Bhargava, R. Infrared spectroscopic imaging: an integrative approach to pathology (2010).
Saini, S. K. & Awasthi, S. K. Sensing and detection capabilities of one-dimensional defective photonic crystal suitable for malaria infection diagnosis from preliminary to advanced stage: Theoretical study. Crystals13, 128 (2023).
Maharana, P. K. & Jha, R. Chalcogenide prism and graphene multilayer based surface plasmon resonance affinity biosensor for high performance. Sens. Actuators, B Chem.169, 161–166 (2012).
Maharana, P. K., Srivastava, T. & Jha, R. Ultrasensitive plasmonic imaging sensor based on graphene and silicon. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett.25, 122–125 (2012).
Wu, L., Chu, H.-S., Koh, W. S. & Li, E.-P. Highly sensitive graphene biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance. Opt. Express18, 14395–14400 (2010).
Chou Chao, C.-T. et al. A simple structure of high sensitivity of plasmonic photonic crystal fiber sensors with minimal air hole density in fiber cladding. Plasmonics20, 971–982 (2025).
Chao, C.-T.C., Kooh, M. R. R., Chau, Y.-F.C. & Thotagamuge, R. Susceptible plasmonic photonic crystal fiber sensor with elliptical air holes and external-flat gold-coated surface. In Photonics Vol. 9(12) 916 (MDPI, 2022).
Sabaruddin, N. R., Tan, Y. M., Chou Chao, C.-T., Kooh, M. R. R. & Chou Chau, Y.-F. High sensitivity of metasurface-based five-band terahertz absorber. Plasmonics19, 481–493 (2024).
Chou Chau, Y.-F. Multiple-mode bowtie cavities for refractive index and glucose sensors working in visible and near-infrared wavelength ranges. Plasmonics16, 1633–1644 (2021).
Chau, Y.-F.C. Enhanced plasmonic waveguide sensing performance with a semicircular-ring resonator. Micro Nanostructures174, 207469 (2023).
Chau, Y.-F.C. Enhancing imaging capabilities with a high-sensitivity multichannel optical filter. Micro Nanostructures186, 207732 (2024).
Chao, C.-T.C. et al. Improving temperature-sensing performance of photonic crystal fiber via external metal-coated trapezoidal-shaped surface. Crystals13, 813 (2023).
Chou Chao, C.-T. & Chou Chau, Y.-F. Highly sensitive multichannel Fano resonance-based plasmonic sensor for refractive index and temperature sensing application. In Photonics Vol. 10(1) 82 (MDPI, 2023).
Sorathiya, V., Lavadiya, S., Faragallah, O. S., Eid, M. M. & Rashed, A. N. Z. D shaped dual core photonics crystal based refractive index sensor using graphene-titanium-silver materials for infrared frequency spectrum. Opt. Quant. Electron.54, 290 (2022).
Meng, X. et al. Analysis of double peak detection in a d-shaped photonic crystal fiber plasmonic sensor. Plasmonics16, 761–768 (2021).
Li, T., Zhu, L., Yang, X., Lou, X. & Yu, L. A refractive index sensor based on h-shaped photonic crystal fibers coated with Ag-graphene layers. Sensors20, 741 (2020).
Kalyoncu, C., Yasli, A. & Ademgil, H. Machine learning methods for estimating bent photonic crystal fiber based spr sensor properties. Heliyon8, e11582 (2022).
Chen, L.-Q., Wu, Y.-C., Liu, Y., Cai, H. Y. & Liu, J. Highly sensitive dual-function sensor for refractive index and temperature using d-shaped microchannel photonic crystal fiber. Opt. Express32, 12405–12418 (2024).
Acknowledgements
The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Research and Graduate Studies at King Khalid University for funding this work through Large Research Project under grant number RGP2/237/46.
Funding
The funding pertaining to this work was supported under Deanship of Research and Graduate Studies from Large Research project at King Khalid University under grant number RGP2/237/46.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The main idea was conceptualized by S.K.A., V.C.M., and Y.T. after detailed discussion. The necessary simulation requirements were fulfilled by V.C.M and A.D.V under the guidance of S.K.A. The first draft of the work was shaped by V.C.M. and Y.T. The result analysis was carried out by V.C.M. and A.D.V. under the supervision of S.K.A. The editing, revision, and initial review were handled by V.C.M. Finally, all authors have contributed to the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Maurya, V.C., Trabelsi, Y., Varshney, A.D. et al. Ultra-sensitive graphene–gold hybrid dual core photonic crystal fiber sensor based on surface plasmon resonance for bio-analyte detection. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-33950-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-33950-3
