Cyanide Detection with PCF in the THz Region:

Composition and Performance Perusal

Rayhan Habib Jibon*1, Moaz Ahmed2, Md. Murad Shaikh3, Abul Tooshil4, Mohammad Ashik Alahe5, Md. Mahmud Hassan6
Electronics and Communication Engineering Discipline,
Khulna University, Bangladesh
2021 International Conference on Science & Contemporary Technologies (ICSCT) | 978-1-6654-2132-4/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICSCT53883.2021.9642694

Email: *1 [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected],

5
[email protected], 6 [email protected]

Abstract— A complete numerical investigation along with highly developed instruments are demanded. The
the design mechanism of a rectangular-shaped hollow-core fluorescence technique is signified as the much capable
photonic crystal fiber (RH-PCF) is highlighted in this article. technique in detecting lower concentrated levels and this
This RH-PCF is capable of operating to the THz regime for the technique has a simpler operation mechanism that can be
purpose of detecting cyanides namely NaCN, KCN, and HCN. implemented rapidly [10].
The incident light is guided towards the core region by using
the finer arrangements of cladding air holes. An anti-reflecting PCF is becoming a popular technology among
layer of 150µm is used for restricting the scattering of lights researchers of photonics for designing sensors due to its
from the sensor. The designed sensor represents a higher configurable characteristics in light-matter interaction. Low
sensitivity of 93% for NaCN, and a larger NA of 0.2035 for confinement loss, absorption loss, and controllable
KCN. Besides, a lower Aeff of 2.85×105 μm2 and lessened EML birefringence, dispersion by configuring some of the design
of 0.004 cm-1 with zero CL for HCN is obtained from this parameters like air hole shape, pitch distance, and core
simulation. Again the possible fabrication of our designed diameter that are not feasible with typical optical fibers.
sensor is feasible using the existing fabrication methods. This Using proper materials and by tuning the geometrical
sensor can be a potential aspirant in the fields of sensing like orientation of holes, PCF is used to design for certain
gas, chemical, or bio-sensing. purposes, such as in optical communications [11] and
chemical sensors [12-118]. Designing PCFs for the visible
Keywords— PCF, sensitivity, Aeff, NA, EML, and CL.
and near-infrared spectrum is popular due to low or zero
flattened dispersion properties at higher wavelengths [17].
I. INTRODUCTION However, the remarkable ability of the THz spectrum for
Cyanide is a dangerous chemical agent in the form of a rapid optical communication and enhanced sensing
colorless gas that belongs to the cyano group (C≡N) [1]. performance makes it outstanding in diverse fields of
Some of the forms of cyanide are sodium cyanide (NaCN), applications like communication, astronomy, spectroscopy,
hydrogen cyanide (HCN), and potassium cyanide (KCN). environmental applications, and medical sectors (i.e.
Cyanide is a fatal chemical that can act against the human scanning drugs and composition of DNA) [18, 19].
body rapidly especially in the lung and respiratory. But it is In recent years, a number of research works are
also massively used as an inevitable indicator in plastics, highlighted in the fields of chemical sensing [20-22]. Arif et
paper, petroleum, electroplating, steel, and automobile al. [20] attained a sensitivity of 58.5% from their proposed
manufacturing industries [2]. Due to its mass use, the chemical sensor model. Islam et al. obtained 85.8%
possibility of cyanide exposure for relative workers is sensitivity with their modeled PCF sensor in the THz regime
possible. The pathways for nitrogen metabolic of algae, [21]. Later on, almost 88.5% sensitivity is reported for
bacteria, and fungi, can act as biological sources of cyanides. cyanide detection of the THz regime [22].
Foods such as sweet potatoes, bamboo shoots, lima beans,
kernels of fruits, cassava, and sorghum accommodate In this regard, we have suggested an RH-PCF sensor for
cyanogenic glycosides. The cyanides are injected into cyanide detection in the THz frequency region to detect
humans and animals from these vegetables. Besides, the potentially deadly chemicals such as NaCN, KCN, and HCN.
ingestion of cyanide in humans can be caused by cigarettes Its performance is analyzed after evaluating a number of
that are a frequent origin of high-level cyanides [3]. Since optical parameters. After analyzing the optical properties
these agents are causing a threat to human health, a safe and namely sensitivity, confinement loss (CL), actual operation
effective detection method is necessary. region (Aeff), effective material loss (EML), and numerical
aperture (NA), we can assert that our offered sensor will
Many methods and techniques are reported in detecting perform effectively than the prior works.
cyanide, but these are not sufficiently capable [4, 5]. Due to
its toxicity, it is vital to have a highly efficient sensor to
detect cyanide. Till now, several detection methods for II. MODEL DESIGN
cyanide have been developed such as chromatographic [6], In this study, FEM is used for geometrical design, and
electrometric [5], potentiometric [7], titrimetric [4], and MATLAB is used for representing the graphs of all the
voltammetric [8] techniques. But these techniques have optical properties. Our proposed sensor is fully based on
complex methodology with a longer inspection time, and rectangular air cavities. A length (Lc) of 750 µm and a height
also need skilled personals. Later colorimetric strategies have (Hc) of 650 µm is selected for this PCF structure. Rectangles
been proposed which is cost-effective and the naked eye can with different L and H are organized in the cladding territory.
detect cyanide in this technique [9]. But, for this method The right and left rectangles (Rcl1) has Lcl1 = 1250 µm and

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Hcl1 = 650 µm, The upside and downside rectangles (Rcl2) of III. METHODOLOGY
the first ring has Lcl2 = 1245 µm and Hcl2 = 650 µm. And the The detection process of three variants of cyanide namely
last two upside and downside rectangles (Rcl3) has Lcl3 = NaCN, KCN, and HCN is carried out using a number of
1200 µm and Hcl3 = 400 µm. Here 1800 µm fiber radius and methods that measure their respective optical properties, and
150µm PML are selected for this design. Cyclic olefin these methods are discussed here.
polymer generally admitted as ZEONEX is preffered as the
hosting stuff for this sensor. The distinct characteristics of Effective area (Aeff) highlights a sensor’s operation
this polymer are: it represents a fixed RI of 1.53 throughout region after representing the incident lights density. Aeff is
the THz operating range, it has strong insensitivity to the measured with Eq. 1 [14].
water vapors, it has higher light transmission strength along
2
with a good command in biocompatibility, also it has very (  E 2 dxdy )
lower absorption and material losses around 0.2 cm-1. The Aeff = , µm2 (1)
 E 4 dxdy
practical insight of the suggested sensor and its
corresponding mesh structure are presented in Fig.1, where
the finer mesh contains 792 boundary elements and 5582 Here, the enclosed sections of an integral part represent the
domain elements. transverse electric field values.
Sensitivity measurement ensures the sensor’s ability to
sense any analyte. This measurement is carried out with the
following Eq. 2 [15].
na
S= × Pf (2)
n eff

Here, cyanides refractive indexes (RI) are represented by na

(1.45 for NaCN, 1.41 for KCN, and 1.26 for HCN), the
actual RI is represented by neff, and the absorbed power
values inside the core is represented by Pf [15].

sample R e ( E x E y − E y H x) dxdy
(a) Pf = × 100 (3)
all R e ( E x E y − E y H x ) dxdy

Here, the E and H represent the transverse electric and

magnetic fields respectively in the x and y-axis.
The numerical aperture (NA) values are counted from
Eq. 4 [17].
1
NA = (4)
2
πAeff f
1+
2
c

Optical sensors face some losses during their operation

(b) in specific application areas. For most cases EML and CL
affect these sensors most, so a perfect mechanism is
Fig. 1. (a) Cross-sectional geometry and (b) finer mesh arrangement for
this suggested PCF sensor. required to measure these losses. The use of background
material in an optical sensor occurs EML. Equation 5 is
The practical impact of any suggested sensor can be used for EML measurement.
realized after examining its fabrication criteria. Sol-gel, 3D-
printing, extrusion, stack and draw are some well-known  
 n 2 
mat mat E α mat dA
fabrication methodologies. Where, capillary stacking and EML =
ε0
 , cm-1 (5)
sol-gel technologies are feasible in fabricating µ0  1 
  all ( E × H . z ) dA 
microstructured air cavities of circular shape, so these are  2 
not familiar for fabricating our proposed sensor. The
extrusion technique offers freedom in designing any kind of Here, a number of parameters like relative permeability
asymmetrical structures like elliptical, rectangular, or square ( µ 0 ), permittivity ( ε 0 ), background materials RI ( nmat ) and
shapes. The extrusion and 3D-printing methodologies are absorption loss ( α mat ), and the pointing vector (z). are
employed by Max Plank Institute for fabricating various
complex shaped PCFs by employing the extrusion and 3D- required to measure the EML.
printing technology [23, 24]. So, our suggested sensor can The amount of scattered light from an optical sensor is
easily be fabricated with extrusion or 3D-printing measure with the term CL that is presented in Eq. 6.
technology.
 4πf 
CL =   I m (neff ), cm-1 (6)
 c 

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 IV. NUMERICAL RESULTS A variation to the sensing profile of this proposed sensor
In this paper, we have measured the actual RI (neff), Aeff, is depicted in Fig. 4. Higher sensitivity values ensure the
sensitivity, NA, EML, and CL in between 1 THz – 2 THz efficacy of a PCF sensor. From here, we can see that the
regime for the cyanide compounds namely NaCN, KCN, and sensitivities in x-pol are slightly better than in y-pol. The
HCN in x-pol and y-pol. All the measured properties are highest sensitivity of 93% is found for NaCN at 1.8 THz
discussed sequentially. regimes, while the other two compounds namely KCN and
HCN attain 91% and 88.2% sensitivity in the x-pol direction.
From the characteristics of neff it is possible to understand
the variations of RI during its operation. For sensing the
three variants of cyanide we have measured its
corresponding variations in both polarization states (x and y).
Here, Fig. 2 notified that NaCN and KCN attain their
corresponding RI values of 1.45 and 1.41 just after 1.3 THz,
but HCN attain its RI of 1.26 after 1.9 THz. From here we
can say that higher indexed analytes attain their respective
position of operation relatively faster than the lower ones.

Fig. 4. Sensitivity variations of NaCN, KCN, and HCN.

An inverse characteristic is found from the NA

measurements that are presented in Fig. 5. The analysis of
NA is important since it controls the characteristics of the
incident light and a larger NA ensures greater sensing
execution. The highest NA of 0.2035 is found for KCN in x-
(a) pol, while NaCN and HCN show 0.1801 and 0.1735 NA
values at 1.8 THz. Again in y-pol, 0.1659, 0.1667, and
0.1734 NA are obtained for KCN, NaCN, and HCN
respectively.

(b)
Fig. 2. Effective RI of NaCN, KCN, and HCN in (a) x-pol and (b) y-pol.

The actual light confined region is observed from the

measurements of Aeff and for our investigation, the obtained
Aeff characteristics are presented in Fig. 3. From here, we Fig. 5. Numerical aperture variations of NaCN, KCN, and HCN.
found almost similar individual Aeff in both the polarizations
for the three variants of cyanides. Generally, a lower value of The EML characteristics for NaCN, KCN, and HCN are
Aeff is desired for an efficient PCF sensor. At 1.8 THz, HCN pictureded in Fig. 6 for both polarization. Its characteristic is
attains the lowest Aeff of 2.85×105 μm2, when at the same proportional to the operating frequency. This is comparable
region NaCN and KCN have 3.09×105 μm2 and 3.13×105 since the increasing frequency allows more lights to be
μm2 Aeff values in y-pol direction. confined inside the core, as a result, the rest of the spaces are
filled with the hosting material, and hence EML increases.
The lowest EML of 0.0037 cm-1 is found for HCN at 1.8
THz, when 0.0044 cm-1 and 0.0059 cm-1 for KCN and NaCN
are found in x-pol. As said earlier more lights are confined in
y-pol, so in this direction, the EML values are larger than the
x-pol values. In y-pol, 0.0041 cm-1, 0.0054 cm-1, and 0.0065
cm-1 are respectively found for HCN, KCN, and NaCN.

Fig. 3. Effective area variations of NaCN, KCN, and HCN.

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 evaluated from Table I. Generally, during fabricating a PCF
sensor can tolerate 6-10 µm strut variations. Since our
offered sensor comprises only rectangular air holes, the
fabrication tolerances can easily be maintained. Therefore,
this can be asserted that the suggested sensor could be an
efficient applicant of gas, chemical, and bio-sensing
operations.

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