Nanoparticle detection using fano-resonance photonic crystal on optical fiber-tip

Recently, Fano-resonance photonic crystals (PhC) have been employed within a wide variety of nanophotonic structures for different applications, including imaging, filtering, switching, sensing, and so on. In this paper, we propose a convenient and compact fiber-optic sensor based on optical fiber-tips integrated with Fano-resonance pillar-array PhC. The quality factor 1.04×104 and refractive index sensitivity of 226 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) have been demonstrated. In addition, the proposed Fiber-PhC integrated senor structure can be used for nanoparticle detection by checking the reflection spectrum shift with a narrow line-width. Using this method, we demonstrate that the detection of polystyrene nanoparticles with dimensions down to 50 nm in radius can be achieved. Thus, we believe that the design and results presented here are promising and enable the implementation of simple but functional fiber-optic sensors and devices.