Optical fiber surrounded by a graphene layer as an optical sensor

• Published in: Optical and quantum electronics Vol. 52; no. 3
• Main Authors: Al-Ashi, Noor E., Taya, Sofyan A., El-Naggar, Sahar A., Vigneswaran, D., Amiri, I. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Cladding; Computer Communication Networks; Conductivity; Electrical Engineering; Graphene; Lasers; Optical Devices; Optical fibers; Optical measuring instruments; Optics; Photonics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Refractivity; Sensitivity; Optical sensor; Sensitivity; Graphene; Optical fiber
• ISSN: 0306-8919; 1572-817X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11082-020-02288-7

An optical sensor composed of a circular cylindrical fiber surrounded by graphene layer is investigated. The thin layer of graphene is located at the core–cladding interface. The cladding is an aqueous material. The conductivity ( σ ) of the graphene layer is taken as σ = σ ′ + j σ ″ , where σ ′ and σ ″ is the real and imaginary parts of the conductivity. We consider TE waves to propagate in the structure. Using Maxwell’s equations, the dispersion relation is derived. Also, the sensitivity of the effective refractive index to any changes in the aqueous cladding refractive index is deduced. It is found that the sensitivity of the proposed optical fiber can be dramatically improved with the variation of graphene layer conductivity.