Perturbation method for analyzing mass sensitivity of planarmultilayer acoustic sensors

A perturbation method is developed to analyze the mass loading sensitivity of planar composite acoustic gravimetric sensors. The sensitivity formulas are obtained in explicit forms for the two lowest sagittal (D₁ and D₂) modes, the lowest shear horizontal (SH₀) mode and high-order SH_m modes in a two-layer isotropic composite plate sensor. The composite plate consists of a plate of thickness b coated by a film of thickness h on which the mass loading layer of infinitesimal thickness is deposited. This coating can be a chemically selective film which is assumed to be acoustically thin (h≪λ), where λ is the acoustic wavelength. For Love modes supported by a film coated on a semi-infinite substrate and for Rayleigh modes on a semi-infinite substrate, the sensitivity formulas are expressed in analytical form. These formulas specify the contribution of each material parameter in the substrate and film, and of the elasticity of the mass loading layer for each planar sensor, and provide a general guide for enhancing the sensor sensitivity     

Resonant scattering of light from a glass/Ag/MgF2/air system with rough interfaces and supporting guided modes in attenuated total reflection

We report experimental results of the resonant scattering of light from a prism-glass/Ag/MgF2/air system with use of the attenuated total reflection technique for p and s polarized light. Two MgF2 film thicknesses were used. The system with the thinner dielectric layer supports two transverse magnetic (TM) and two transverse electric (TE) guided modes at a wavelength of 632.8 nm, and the system with the thicker dielectric layer supports three TM and three TE guided modes. In both cases we found dips in the specular reflection as a function of incident angle that is due to excitation of guided modes in the MgF2 film. The scattered light shows peaks at angles corresponding to the measured excitation of the guided modes. These peaks are due to single-order scattering and occur for any angle of the incident light. All features in the scattering response are enhanced in resonance conditions, and the efficiency of injecting light into the guide is reduced.     

Optical fibre Fabry–Perot relative humidity sensor based on HCPCF and chitosan film

Abstract

An optical fibre Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) sensor for relative humidity (RH) measurement is proposed. The FPI is formed by splicing a short section of hollow-core photonic crystal fibre(HCPCF) to single mode fibre and covering a chitosan film at the end of HCPCF. The refractive index of chitosan and film thickness will change with ambient RH, leading to the change in the reflected interference spectrum of FPI. RH response of the FPI sensor is analysed theoretically and demonstrated experimentally. It shows nonlinear response to RH values from 35 to 95%RH. The interference fringe shifts to shorter wavelength as RH increases with a maximum sensitivity of 0.28 nm/%RH at high RH level. And the fringe contrast also decreases as RH increases with an available maximum sensitivity of 0.5 dB/%RH. The sensor shows good stability and fast response time less than 1 min. With its advantages of compact structure, good performance, simple and safe fabrication, the proposed optical fibre FPI sensor has great potential for RH sensing.     

Thermostable refractive index sensors based on whispering gallery modes in a microsphere coated with poly(methyl methacrylate)

This study proposes a thermostable refractive index (RI) sensor consisting of a silica microsphere coated with a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layer. The first-order and second-order whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of both TE and TM polarizations are considered theoretically. The layer thickness is carefully optimized to eliminate the thermal drift and enhance the RI sensitivity and detection limit. In various WGMs, at the thermostable thickness of the PMMA layer, the first-order TM mode corresponds to the highest sensitivity and the smallest detection limit. The theoretical predictions provide guidelines for the design and fabrication of thermostable RI sensors.     

微波等离子体化学气相沉积装置的工作原理

微波等离子体化学气相沉积（ＭＰＣＶＤ）是制备金刚石膜的一种重要方法。用简单实验方法给出了ＭＰＣＶＤ装置中微波模式转换、微波与等离子体耦合等工作原理。矩形波导中的ＴＥ１０模式经微波模式转换器转变为同轴线中的ＴＥＭ模式，再由ＴＥＭ模式转变为圆波导的ＴＭ０１模式。ＴＭ０１模式激发低压气体形成等离子体，等离子体严重影响微波模式分布。在国内首次成功运行了５ｋＷ天线耦合石英窗式ＭＰＣＶＤ装置。     

CdSe(ZnS) nanocomposite luminescent high temperature sensor

High temperature luminescence-based sensing is demonstrated by embedding colloidal CdSe(ZnS) quantum dots into a high temperature SiO(2) dielectric matrix. The nanocomposite was fabricated by a solution process method. As-prepared CdSe(ZnS) quantum dots in the nanocomposite sensor show an absorption band at a wavelength of 600 nm (2.06 eV). Photoluminescence (PL) measurements show a room temperature emission peak at 606 nm (2.04 eV). The temperature-dependent emission spectra study shows for the first time a CdSe(ZnS)-SiO(2) nanocomposite-based high temperature sensor. The temperature-dependent spectral and intensity modes of the nanocomposite thin film photoluminescence were investigated from 295-525 K. The sensor shows a variation of the emission wavelength as a function of temperature with a sensitivity of ～ 0.11 nm °C( - 1). The film morphology and roughness are characterized using AFM.     

Design and characterization of in-plane MEMS yaw rate sensor

In this paper, we present the design and characterization of a vibratory yaw rate MEMS sensor that uses in-plane motion for both actuation and sensing. The design criterion for the rate sensor is based on a high sensitivity and low bandwidth. The required sensitivity of the yawrate sensor is attained by using the inplane motion in which the dominant damping mechanism is the fluid loss due to slide film damping i.e. two–three orders of magnitude less than the squeeze-film damping in other rate sensors with out-of-plane motion. The low bandwidth is achieved by matching the drive and the sense mode frequencies. Based on these factors, the yaw rate sensor is designed and finally realized using surface micromachining. The inplane motion of the sensor is experimentally characterized to determine the sense and the drive mode frequencies, and corresponding damping ratios. It is found that the experimental results match well with the numerical and the analytical models with less than 5% error in frequencies measurements. The measured quality factor of the sensor is approximately 467, which is two orders of magnitude higher than that for a similar rate sensor with out-of-plane sense direction.     

Single-mode, optical-fiber sensors and tunable wavelength filters based on the resonant excitation of metal-clad modes

The resonant excitation of metal-clad modes, including fundamental and higher-order modes, in a multilayer structure deposited on the polished cladding of a single-mode optical fiber is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The excitation of metal-clad modes is shown as a resonant power transfer from the fiber to the metal-clad mode that takes place for an external refractive-index value such that the effective index of the metal-clad mode reaches the cladding level. The observed attenuation on the TM polarization provides a suitable transducing mechanism for refractive-index sensor devices as well as the principle for developing tunable wavelength-polarized filters with a wide range of optical performance characteristics.     

Sensitivity-enhanced high-temperature sensing using all-solid photonic bandgap fiber modal interference

A wavelength-encoded interferometric high-temperature sensor based on an all-solid photonic bandgap fiber (AS-PBF) is reported. It consists of a small piece of AS-PBF spliced core offset with standard single-mode fibers. Two core modes LP(01) and LP(11) are conveniently utilized as optical arms to form Mach-Zehnder-type interference at both the first and the second photonic bandgaps, and the maximum extinction ratio exceeds 25?dB. Experimental and theoretical investigation of its response to temperature confirms that high temperatures up to 700?°C can be effectively sensed using such an AS-PBF interferometer, and benefiting from a large effective thermo-optic coefficient of fiber structure, the sensitivity can be significantly enhanced (71.5?pm/°C at 600?°C).     

采用简便方法制备快速响应的聚吡咯复合薄膜传感器

在叉指碳电极上采用原位制备的方法构筑了聚吡咯复合薄膜气敏传感器,对其在三甲基胺气氛中的电响应性能进行了研究.结果表明,对5.14×10-7mol/mL的三甲基胺,其敏感性可达3～6个数量级的变化, 远高于同等实验条件下酞菁、卟啉等及其氟代衍生物的气敏性.该薄膜传感器具有好的重现性和选择性,在室温下可用氮气完全恢复.     

Direct optical carbon dioxide sensing based on a polymeric film doped with a selective molecular tweezer-type ionophore

A novel optical method for the determination of CO(2) concentration in aqueous and gaseous samples of plasticized PVC film is presented. The detection principle makes use of a direct molecular recognition of the carbonate ion by a molecular tweezer-type ionophore, which has previously been demonstrated to exhibit excellent carbonate selectivity. The carbonate ion is extracted together with hydrogen ions into a polymeric film that contains the anion exchanger tridodecylmethylammonium chloride, a lipophilic, electrically charged, and highly basic pH indicator, which is used for the readout in absorbance mode, in addition to the lipophilic carbonate ionophore. According to known bulk optode principles, such an optical sensor responds to the product of the carbonate ion activity and the square of hydrogen ion activity. This quantity is thermodynamically linked to the activity of carbon dioxide. This allows one to realize a direct carbon dioxide sensor that does not make use of the traditional Severinghaus sensing principle of measuring a pH change upon CO(2) equilibration across a membrane. A selectivity analysis shows that common ions such as chloride are sufficiently suppressed for direct PCO(2) measurements in freshwater samples at pH 8. Chloride interference, however, is too severe for direct seawater measurements at the same pH. This may be overcome by placing a gas-permeable membrane over the optode sensing film. This is conceptually confirmed by establishing that the sensor is equally useful for gas-phase PCO(2) measurements. As expected, humid air samples are required for proper sensor functioning, as dry CO(2) gas will not cause any signal change. The sensor showed acceptable response times and good reproducibility under both conditions.     

Modal analysis and suppression of the Fourier modal method instabilities in highly conductive gratings

The Fourier modal method (FMM), often also referred to as rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA), is known to suffer from numerical instabilities when applied to low-loss metallic gratings under TM incidence. This problem has so far been attributed to the imperfect conditioning of the matrices to be diagonalized. The present analysis based on a modal vision reveals that the so-called instabilities are true features of the solution of the mathematical problem of a binary metal grating dealt with by truncated Fourier representation of Maxwell's equations. The extreme sensitivity of this solution to the optogeometrical parameters is the result of the excitation, propagation, coupling, interference, and resonance of a finite number of very slow propagating spurious modes. An astute management of these modes permits a complete and safe removal of the numerical instabilities at the price of an arbitrarily small and controllable reduction in accuracy as compared with the referenced true-mode method.     

Optical fiber magnetic field sensor based on multi-mode fiber and core-offset structure

A magnetic field sensor based on a magnetic fluid (MF)-coated intermodal interferometer is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. It is fabricated by a core-offset structure between two segments of multi-mode fibres (MMF), a spherical structure is formed in the end of the second segment MMF. The core-offset section can be used to excite the core mode to the cladding, then the core and cladding modes will interference at the spherical structure due to the optical path difference caused by the refractive index difference. Two interference valleys of the interferometer integrated with MF under different magnetic field intensities have been experimentally analysed. The experimental results exhibit that the sensor possesses a magnetic field sensitivity of ?0.187 nm/mT by monitoring the wavelength shift at the magnetic field intensity from 0 to 20mT, and the optical power attenuation at specific wavelength with a magnetic field has a maximum sensitivity of 0.228 dB/mT.     

Intermodal interferometer for strain and temperature sensing fabricated in birefringent boron doped microstructured fiber

We present a compact in-line fiber interferometric sensor fabricated in a boron doped two-mode highly birefringent microstructured fiber using a CO(2) laser. The intermodal interference arises at the fiber output due to coupling between the fundamental and the first order modes occurring at two fiber tapers distant by a few millimeters. The visibility of intermodal interference fringes is modulated by a polarimetric differential signal and varies in response to measurand changes. The proposed interferometer was tested for measurements of the strain and temperature, respectively, in the range of 20-700?°C and 0-17?mstrain. The sensitivity coefficients corresponding to fringe displacement and contrast variations are equal respectively for strain -2.51 nm/mstrain and -0.0256 1/mstrain and for temperature 16.7 pm/°C and 5.74×10(-5) 1/°C. This allows for simultaneous measurements of the two parameters by interrogation of the visibility and the displacement of interference fringes.     

Bragg reflection from space charge waves in a semiconductor waveguide

A dispersion relation for the space charge waves (SCWs) in a thin semiconductor layer with symmetric dielectric surrounding is obtained. The collinear waveguide SCW-optic interaction is analyzed for the zero-order (homogeneous) and first-order SCW modes. It is shown that effective Bragg reflection is possible on the SCW-optic TE and TM modes of various orders.     

Wideband two-port beam splitter of a binary fused-silica phase grating

The usual beam splitter of multilayer-coated film with a wideband spectrum is not easy to achieve. We describe the realization of a wideband transmission two-port beam splitter based on a binary fused-silica phase grating. To achieve high efficiency and equality in the diffracted 0th and -1st orders, the grating profile parameters are optimized using rigorous coupled-wave analysis at a wavelength of 1550 nm. Holographic recording and the inductively coupled plasma dry etching technique are used to fabricate the fused-silica beam splitter grating. The measured efficiency of (45% x 2) = 90% diffracted into the both orders can be obtained with the fabricated grating under Littrow mounting. The physical mechanism of such a wideband two-port beam splitter grating can be well explained by the modal method based on two-beam interference of the modes excited by the incident wave. With the high damage threshold, low coefficient of thermal expansion, and wideband high efficiency, the presented beam splitter etched in fused silica should be a useful optical element for a variety of practical applications.     

In-fiber liquid-level probe based on Michelson interferometer via dual-mode elliptical multilayer-core fiber

Abstract

An in-fiber liquid-level probe fabricated from homemade dual-mode elliptical multilayer-core fiber (EMCF) was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed sensor simply consists of a segment of the EMCF with one end coated with silver film, and a Michelson interferometer is roughly established when light from single-mode fiber incident from the other end. The detected interference patterns, rather clean due to the few-mode property, shift as the liquid level due to strong interaction between high-order modes and measurands through evanescent waves. Both the propagation characteristics and operation principle of such a sensor were demonstrated in detail, and sensitivities of 33.48, 43.35, and 48.93 pm/mm corresponding to liquid indices of 1.333, 1.353, and 1.373 were successfully achieved with a 50-mm EMCF probe, respectively. Moreover, the proposed sensor had the potential to discriminate measurand index after proper calibration.     

温度对石墨烯膜光纤F-P声压传感器灵敏度影响研究

石墨烯具有优异的机械、电学与光学等传感特性,有希望成为下一代可穿戴电子设备的功能敏感材料。石墨烯膜Fabry-Perot(F-P)声压传感器具有高灵敏度、小型化和抗电磁干扰等优点,但会受到温度漂移的影响。温度对传感器的影响主要体现在F-P腔长变化,引起工作点漂移,导致传感器光学灵敏度发生变化,以及改变石墨烯膜预应力。本文制备了石墨烯膜光纤F-P声压传感器探头,通过声压测试表明,温度改变了悬浮石墨烯膜的机械力学特性,在1 kHz处使其机械灵敏度由1.80 nm/Pa提高至2.44 nm/Pa。     

Sensitivity and detection limit of concentration and adsorption measurements by laser-induced surface-plasmon resonance

The shot noise limitation as well as other factors that influence the sensitivity of measurements with a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor are considered. It is demonstrated that minute changes in the refractive index of a medium close to the surface of a metal film can be detected owing to a shift in the resonance angle. In particular, changes in the adsorption layer of only a fraction of a biomolecular monolayer could be measured. Data for SPR are presented with adjacent media of air, water, as well as aqueous solutions of ethanol and sodium chloride at different concentrations. The immobilization of the protein bovine serum albumin to a specially prepared surface was monitored with the SPR technique. Specific responses to changes in the concentration and thickness of the adsorption layer were determined. The angular resolution of the present apparatus is approximately 1 millidegree, corresponding to a detection limit for an adsorbed protein layer of 15 pg/mm(2), which is still 2 to 3 orders of magnitude larger than the shot-noise limit, and therefore a further improvement in sensitivity is possible.     

Directional coupler based on radiatively coupled waveguides

We investigate a system of two waveguides with leaky modes sharing a common substrate (radiatively coupled waveguides). The main advantage of such a system is the possibility of remote coupling. A perturbation theory is developed for both TE and TM polarization. Numerical calculations of dispersion curves and of the coupling length allow us to determine the limitations of the perturbation theory. We study the influence of multimode interference on the process of beating by considering the propagation of a given initial field. Finally, we propose a new design for an effective, integrated optical TE-TM polarization splitter.