Design of a label-free photonic crystal refractive index sensor for biomedical applications

Two photonic crystal optical refractive index sensors have been proposed in this paper. These sensors can be used for detection of basal cell cancer. A rod-type square lattice of GaAs is used for this purpose. The sensor topologies are based on a photonic crystal ring-shaped resonator coupled to two and waveguides respectively. Instead of using ultra-high quality factor cavities for improving the sensitivity, the resonance profile is localized and concentrated on the analyte to achieve good distinction. A 13 nm cavity resonance frequency shift for normal and cancer cells is obtained for detection of basal cell carcinoma. Finite difference time domain method and plane wave expansion methods are used to simulate and analyze the structures. The proposed biosensors have a sensitivity equal to 720 and 638 nm/RIU. The simplicity of the design and its high sensitivity make it a suitable choice for bio-sensing applications.