Photonic crystal fiber-based biosensor for detection of women reproductive hormones

In this article, we have proposed highly sensitive compact Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) sensor for the detection of women’s reproductive hormones namely progesterone and estradiol in blood samples. In order to achieve this, we have constructed asymmetric dual elliptical core PCF filled with blood samples. The sensing performances are evaluated through coupling length and transmission spectrum by hormones concentration dependent effective refractive index using numerical analysis of finite element method. By optimizing structural parameters, we have realized enhanced sensitivity with high resolution for sensing concentrations from 0 to 30 nmol/L for progesterone and 0 to 3 nmol/L for estradiol hormones. The attained sensitivity of progesterone is 0.18 nm/nmol/L for x-polarization and 0.167 nm/nmol/L for y-polarization at a compact length of 0.4 mm. Similarly, the sensitivity of estradiol reached 9.47 nm/n mol/L and 8.93 nm/nmol/L for x and y polarization respectively with the same length of the fiber.