Photonic sensors for micro-damage detection: A proof of concept using numerical simulation

Damage detection has been proven to be a challenging task in structural health monitoring (SHM) due to the fact that damage cannot be measured. The difficulty associated with damage detection is related to electing a feature that is sensitive to damage occurrence and evolution. This difficulty increases as the damage size decreases limiting the ability to detect damage occurrence at the micron and submicron length scale. Damage detection at this length scale is of interest for sensitive structures such as aircrafts and nuclear facilities. In this paper a new photonic sensor based on photonic crystal (PhC) technology that can be synthesized at the nanoscale is introduced. PhCs are synthetic materials that are capable of controlling light propagation by creating a photonic bandgap where light is forbidden to propagate. The interesting feature of PhC is that its photonic signature is strongly tied to its microstructure periodicity. This study demonstrates that when a PhC sensor adhered to polymer substrate experiences micron or submicron damage, it will experience changes in its microstructural periodicity thereby creating a photonic signature that can be related to damage severity. This concept is validated here using a three-dimensional integrated numerical simulation.