Enhancing Breast Cancer Biomarker Detection with a Portable Biosensor Utilizing Flower Core Photonic Crystal Fiber Architecture

Abstract

This study introduces a biosensor utilizing photonic crystal fiber (PCF) technology to detect breast cancer biomarkers. The biosensor features a unique flower core composed of square and circular air holes. The sensing mechanism relies on variations in the resonant wavelength induced by changes in the sample’s concentration or refractive index. As the sample’s concentration increases, the transmission spectrum shifts at higher wavelengths, enabling differentiation between malignant and normal cancer cells. The study demonstrates that the biosensor has achieved its highest recorded sensitivity of 22,069 nm/RIU. Furthermore, comprehensive values to judge the performance are obtained for loss, coupling length, V parameter, propagation constant, amplitude sensitivity, and transmission, in addition to birefringence on the order of 10⁻⁵. Thus, the reported biosensor is of high quality and has good potential for sensitive detection of breast cancer. Also, the biosensor presented in this study provides a viable and cost-efficient alternative to molecular biotechnology examination and imaging techniques for the diagnosis of cancer.