Design and numerical analysis of an extremely sensitive PCF-based sensor for detecting kerosene adulteration in petrol and diesel

The quality of fuel greatly affects the lifetime and smooth functioning of every petroleum engine. To pursue higher profit, kerosene is mixed with petrol and diesel by many dishonest merchants. To resist such a mixing of kerosene, a novel photonic crystal fiber (PCF)-based fuel adulteration sensor has been modelled and numerically analyzed in this paper. A diverse amount of fuel adulteration can be effectively detected by the proposed sensor. The sensor exhibits negligible effective material loss in the order of 10-3 cm−1 and ultralow confinement loss in the order of 10-14 cm−1. The relative sensitivity for the proposed sensor ranges from 98.68% to 98.83% in detecting kerosene-mixed petrol at 2.5THz, whereas the sensor shows 98.83%–98.90% sensitivity in sensing kerosene-mixed diesel at the same frequency. The typical values for the optical parameters as well as simple rectangle-based PCF structures enhance the acceptability of this sensor and the possibility of fabrication exercising existing strategies.