Fluidic Sensors Based on Photonic Crystal Fiber Gratings: Impact of the Ambient Temperature

The spectral and thermooptical responses of photonic crystal fiber gratings (PCFGs) infiltrated with gaseous solutions, are investigated theoretically using an accurate semivectorial modal solver combined with exact equations for the reflection response of fiber Bragg gratings. We demonstrate numerically perhaps for the first time, that by an appropriate selection of the design parameters, it is possible to obtain compact sensing platforms based on the shift of the calculated reflectance spectra of the PCFG. Thus, our investigation adds evidence to the potential use of PCFGs as gas/liquid sensors. In addition, we show through a thermooptical sensitivity analysis that this type of sensors can easily meet the requirements for channel allocation in wavelength-division-multiplexing systems with relatively low temperature sensitivity