Tunable sensitivity of a waterborne bacteria detector based on a ternary photonic crystal with high-critical-temperature superconductor and semiconductor layers

More than half of the world's population is affected by waterborne illnesses, which have become a severe public health concern worldwide. Around 1 billion people drink contaminated water, resulting in 2.2 million deaths every year. According to a UNICEF assessment in 2010, children under the age of five are more vulnerable to diarrheal diseases, which account for about 90% of annual mortality, with nearly 5000 children dying every day. In this work, a waterborne bacteria detector based on a ternary photonic crystal with high-critical-temperature superconductor and semiconductor layers is considered. The optical properties of the semiconductor and superconductor materials are functions of temperature and applied pressure. The tuning of the sensitivity with the variation of the applied pressure, temperature and thicknesses of the semiconductor and superconductor layer is investigated. The optimum conditions of these parameters at which the sensitivity is maximum are found as T = 75 K, P = 0 GPa, d_GaAs = 0.85 μm and d_Hg-1223 = 0.70 µm. At these conditions, the sensitivity can reach 1275, 1281.82, 1303.37 and 1309.28 nm/RIU for the analytes of Vibrio Cholera, Escherichia Coli, Shigella Flexneri and Salmonella Flagellin, respectively.