A review of recent developments in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs)-based biomedical and chemical sensing applications

Abstract Chemical and biomedical applications emphasize their performance at terahertz (THz) frequencies. We provide a comparative overview of various PCF sensor configurations, along with their key operational parameters, to elucidate the advantages and limitations of each design. The findings indicate that PCF sensors exhibit high sensitivity, low confinement loss, and manageable material losses in both biomedical and chemical domains. These results underscore the promising potential of PCF-based sensors to enhance diagnostic accuracy, with the S-PCF emerging as the most efficient candidate among the evaluated structures. This article discusses the sensing properties and measuring procedures for each sensor. This comparative study categorizes PCF sensors by their application. Choosing the right topology for an application depends on its properties. The PCF topology can be utilized for multiple sensing purposes.