High sensitivity internal refractive index sensor based on a photonic crystal fiber long period grating

A high sensitivity method is reported for the measurement of the internal refractive index using a photonic crystal fiber long period grating. Long period gratings of different lengths were inscribed in photonic crystal fibers, and the air holes of the fiber had varying refractive indices. A side lobe appeared near the resonant dip through the analysis of the characteristics of transmission spectra showing variation in the refractive index. The resonant dip and its side lobe provided varying sensitivities to the internal refractive index values. The sensitivity of the side lobe was as high as 2343?nm/refractive index unit (RIU), which exceeded the value for the resonant dip (2047?nm/RIU) for refractive indices from 1.3333–1.3792. Due to the high resolution of 8.5?×?10^?6 RIU, this method offers promising applications for biological and chemical analysis in which high-precision refractive index measurements are required.     

High sensitivity all-fiber Sagnac interferometer temperature sensor using a selective ethanol-filled photonic crystal fiber

An all-fiber Sagnac temperature sensor based on 3?dB tapered coupling and ethanol selective-filled photonic crystal fiber was demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. The ethanol selectivity-filled photonic crystal fiber has noncircular symmetry and thus exhibits birefringence. The ethanol selective-filled photonic crystal fiber, acting as the sensing element, was inserted in a Sagnac loop interferometer to measure temperature. The output spectra of Sagnac interferometer applied different temperatures were measured and analyzed. Experimental results have shown the temperature sensitivity of the Sagnac interferometer is 1.65?nm/°C in the range of 25–33°C.     

Temperature and refractive index sensor using a high-birefringence fiber loop mirror and single mode-coreless-single mode fiber structure

A novel fiber optic sensor for the simultaneous measurement of refractive index and temperature is reported. The sensor consists of a high-birefringence fiber loop mirror and a section of single mode-coreless-single mode fiber structure. The single mode-coreless-single mode fiber structure served as a refractometer while the high-birefringence fiber loop mirror was used to measure temperature. The multimode interference valley of the single mode-coreless-single mode fiber structure was sensitive to the surrounding refractive index of liquids (96.42 nm/refractive index unit) and had almost no response to temperature fluctuations. The high-birefringence fiber loop mirror was highly sensitive to temperature (1.98 nm/°C) but was insensitive to changes in refractive index. The theoretical and experimental results demonstrated simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index. The optimum resolution was 2.07 × 10^?4 refractive index units and 0.01°C.     

Sensitivity-optimized long-period fiber gratings for refractive index and temperature sensing

A long-period fiber grating sensor was fabricated by periodically changing the structure of single-mode fiber with an electric arc discharge technique. After the fabrication, the refractive index and temperature sensitivities were optimized by etching the cladding with hydrofluoric acid solution. The experimental results illustrate that the thinner cladding shows relatively higher refractive index and temperature sensitivities for the same order cladding mode, which are accordant with that of numerical simulation. After the long-period fiber grating was etched for 15?min, average refractive index sensitivities of 214?nm/refractive index unit (RIU) (1.3333?–?1.3931) and 1987?nm/RIU (1.4115–1.4555) were achieved. An extremely higher refractive index sensitivity of 2731?nm/RIU appears near 1.4555. By systematically studying the temperature sensing characteristic of cladding-etched long-period fiber grating in this work for the first time, the temperature sensitivity can reach as high as 144.23?pm/°C when the ambient temperature changes from 30 to 80°C. This work provides a theoretical reference for the fabrication of a high-sensitivity refractive index and temperature sensor based on arc-induced long-period fiber grating.     

开环光子晶体光纤化学传感器的设计

为了提高低折射率化学物质监测的灵敏度,采用光子晶体光纤设计了一种在开环内镀有金薄膜的表面等离子体共振传感器。利用仿真软件COMSOL Multiphysics 5.6系统地研究了开环半径、内部气孔大小、金属膜层厚度对该传感器灵敏度的影响。最终在2800～4700 nm的工作波段内设计出折射率检测范围为1.26～1.31的低折射率传感器。该传感器平均灵敏度高达22 500 nm/RIU,最高灵敏度达33 000 nm/RIU。在七氟醚、卤代醚、含氟有机物等低折射率物质检测方向具有较好的应用前景。     

Determination of refractive index by a U-shaped multimode fiber sensor

The U-shaped multimode fiber structure is proposed to measure the refractive index of liquid. In the previous work, the U-shaped structure by single-mode fiber has been widely investigated. However, the large bending loss restricted its practical applications, especially for the reflection-type fiber probe. To reduce the bending losses, the multimode fiber is used as the bending section of the fiber sensor in this study. The structures with different bending radiuses are fabricated to verify this design. Moreover, to simplify the interrogation method, the differential intensity interrogation method is used by cascading two fiber Bragg gratings after the U-shaped fiber structure. The low bending loss of the proposed structure is helpful to measure the reflected light power by fiber Bragg gratings. The influence of incident light power fluctuation was largely suppressed by this differential method. In addition, the sensitivity is also increased by a factor of 2 compared with the intensity interrogation method using one-cascaded fiber Bragg grating. The experimental results show that the refractive index sensitivities are ?115.09?dB/RIU in the refractive index range of 1.3405–1.3874 and ?260.24?dB/RIU in the refractive index range of 1.3874–1.4223, respectively.     

Simultaneous measurement of refractive index and temperature by integrating an external Fabry-Perot cavity with a fiber Bragg grating

A fiber sensor for simultaneous measurements of refractive index and temperature based on the integration of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with an external Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity is presented. The fringe contrast of the interference spectrum generated by the F-P cavity is used to determine the external refractive index, while the wavelength shift of the FBG is used to measure temperature. The result showed that the refractive index and temperature sensitivity for the integrated sensor is 8.1 × 10(-6) and 0.01006 nm/°C, respectively.     

Sensitivity-enhanced single-mode fiber-tapered hollow core fiber-single-mode fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer for refractive index measurements

In this paper, a sensitive-enhanced single-mode fiber—tapered hollow core fiber—single-mode fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer is demonstrated for refractive index sensing. The sensitivity was improved by forming an up-taper at the two splicing joints and concave cone in hollow core fiber. The up-tapered regions served as a more effective mode splitter/combiner, and the tapered hollow core fiber was used to generate a stronger evanescent field to enhance the interaction of light with the analyte. According to the principles of interference between the cladding and fundamental modes, we performed refractive index measurements. The experiments indicated that the proposed sensor has a high refractive index sensitivity of 214.97?nm/RIU in the refractive index range of 1.333–1.379, with a minimum refractive index measurement resolution of 9.3?×?10^?5. In addition, the sensor had a low temperature response of 2.96?pm/°C in the range from 50 to 85°C and a low cross sensitivity of 1.377?×?10^?5 RIU/°C. The proposed sensor is attractive for its high refractive index sensitivity, easy fabrication, low cross sensitivity, and good mechanical strength, making it of potential value for refractive index measurements for chemical and biological sensing.     

四边形周期结构负折射介质光子晶体光纤的设计

提出了一种纤芯与介质柱为负折射率材料、衬底为正折射率材料的新型四边形周期结构光子晶体光纤(PCF)。介绍了它的结构设计,研究了光子带隙效应导光特性。与传统四边形周期结构光子晶体光纤相比,该种光纤可以实现带隙效应导光传输,取填充比f=0.7时可获得光子带隙传输范围为880~4140nm,可应用于远红外光通信中。     

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain by combining a fiber Bragg grating and the pigtail fiber covered with epoxy resin

A fiber sensor for simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain based on a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with the pigtail fiber covered with epoxy resin is presented. The side mode suppression ratio of the FBG will vary with the temperature due to the Fresnel reflection from the interface between the pigtail fiber and the epoxy resin whose refractive index is sensitive to the temperature. The sensor is also capable of simultaneous measurement temperature and strain by combining the Bragg wavelength shift characteristics as the temperature and strain of the FBG.     

Novel torsion sensor using a polarization maintaining photonic crystal fiber loop mirror

A novel torsion sensor employing a short length of polarization maintaining photonic crystal fiber was inserted into the fiber loop mirror with an output probe. The sensing scheme was described theoretically by a Jones matrix and experimentally demonstrated. The results showed that the sensitivity of the intensity loss in response to the twist angle may be up to 0.0394 dB/° and a resolution of 0.025° was achieved. This torsion sensor is attractive due to its compact size, insensitivity to temperature, and suitability for longer distance transmission than conventional sensors.     

Simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature using a polyvinyl alcohol tapered fiber bragg grating

An optical fiber sensor based on a multimode tapered fiber cascading fiber Bragg grating has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated for the simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature. The sensor was constructed using a tapered fiber that was coated with polyvinyl alcohol and a fiber Bragg grating with high reflectivity. The measurement of humidity and temperature was achieved by monitoring changes in reflective optical power and spectral shift, respectively. Due to the different measurement methods, the effect of temperature on humidity measurement may be ignored. The theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the highest sensitivities of 0.33 µW/%RH and 10.9?pm/°C were achieved when the diameter of the taper waist was 26?µm and the thickness of coating was 3.3?µm. Due to the advantages of good linearity, low cost of fabrication and convenient operation, the proposed sensor is promising for simultaneously measuring humidity and temperature.     

AN OPTICAL FIBER TEMPERATURE SENSOR BASED ON AN ETHANOL FILLED FABRY-PEROT CAVITY

Optical fiber Fabry-Perot interferometers have been widely used as sensors. A novel anhydrous ethanol-filled optical fiber Fabry-Perot temperature sensor was reported in this article. Based on the characteristics of the temperature-controlling refractive index, the ethanol may serve as a sensitive medium for a sensor. According to the experimental results, the refractive index of the ethanol was changed by approximately 0.02617 when the temperature increased from 16°C to 74°C. A cavity length of 94 μm was used to demonstrate the feasibility of this sensor. The resonance wavelength of the sensor shifted about ?0.42 nm/°C. The novel optical fiber Fabry-Perot temperature sensor was simple, compact, sensitive, and immune to electromagnetic interferences.     

Refractive index sensor based on fiber loop ring-down spectroscopy

An optical fiber refractive index sensor based on fiber loop ring-down spectroscopy and a tapered fiber was fabricated using an ordinary single mode fiber with an arc fusion splicer. The performance of the sensor was controlled by the parameters of the tapered fiber. A fiber loop ring-down spectroscopy system was employed to enhance the sensitivity and demodulate the transmission spectrum. The results showed that a sensor with a waist diameter of 14 m and a length of 1.2 mm had good optical performance. By monitoring the ring-down time of the system, relatively high sensitivity of 411.576 s/ RIU was achieved with refractive index values from 1.333 to 1.412. This sensor offers few interferences, high sensitivity, easy fabrication, and low cost.     

基于光子晶体和法布里珀罗腔结构的折射率传感器

光子晶体传感器在溶液检测方面具有巨大的应用潜力,设计一种光子晶体液体折射率传感器,通过在光子晶体中构造法布里珀罗腔(F-P腔)并利用光子晶体的自准直效应来实现折射率的探测。通过二维时域有限差分法(2D-FDTD)对电磁波在光子晶体F-P腔中的传播的仿真实验,最终获得了高线性度的输出光功率与液体折射率的对应关系,并可基于此特性实现液体折射率的检测。相较于其他的检测方法,光子晶体的应用使其具有体积小、测量范围广、易于与激光器件集成并且不受外界电磁环境影响等优点。     

改性石墨烯包覆光纤的马赫-曾德尔大肠杆菌传感器

针对日益严峻的食品安全问题,特别是食源性致病菌的快速检测,本文提出一种基于表面改性石墨烯粗锥型马赫-曾德尔干涉结构的光纤大肠杆菌传感器。首先,截取一根4 cm的实心光子晶体光纤,两端分别与两根单模光纤进行粗锥熔接,形成基于马赫-曾德尔干涉原理的传感结构;接着,制备一种表面改性石墨烯敏感材料,将它涂覆在实心光子晶体光纤的表面,使传感器对大肠杆菌溶液有较高的灵敏度;最后,将上述传感器置于水槽中,以此检测大肠杆菌溶液浓度。实验结果表明,在大肠杆菌溶液浓度为50~600 cfu/mL内,随着菌液的浓度增大,传感器的干涉光谱发生了明显的蓝移,灵敏度为3.43 pm/(cfu·mL^-1),菌液浓度与波长偏移的线性度为0.95649,检测限为67.18 cfu/mL,响应时间为15 s。该传感器成本低、体积小、响应时间快,适用于低浓度大肠杆菌浓度的快速检测。     

镀金属膜长周期光纤光栅的传感特性

本文基于耦合模理论, 建立了严格的四层金属膜理论模型, 探讨了镀金属膜长周期光纤光栅(Long-period fiber grating, LPFG)的温度、 应变及折射率特性, 以及镀膜参数对镀金属膜长周期光纤光栅光谱特性的影响.仿真结果表明, 长周期光纤光栅表面最优的金属膜厚度将引起表现等离子共振(Surface-plasmon resonance, SPR)特性, 这一特性将使得LPFG 对稳定及折射率都有较高的敏感性, 而对应变影响较小. 理论分析表明, 银膜厚度在0.8-1.2 nm 范围内时, 折射率敏感度达到最大值为42.402 6, 敏感度增加4.5%. 仿真结果为镀膜长周期光纤光栅的设计及参数优化提供了理论指导.     

FDTD方法在光子晶体光纤中的应用

光子晶体光纤是近年来研究的热点,提出时域有限差分法在光子晶体光纤理论分析中应用的具体方法。通过实例计算,得到了光子晶体光纤的有效折射率等传播参量。     

Graphene-based optical fiber ammonia gas sensor

To precisely monitor and forecast harmful gases in the air, a high-performance fiber gas sensor based on graphene nanometer-functional materials is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensing area of the proposed sensor was a graphene-wrapped fiber which was cascaded between a down-taper and an up-taper. The graphene wrapping on the subuliform fiber sensing area substantially increased the evanescent field which transmits along the surface of fiber and will have a significant sensitization effect on the gas sensing. At the same time, the gas molecules adsorbed by graphene lead to changes of the effective refractive index of the composite waveguide, which causes corresponding wavelength drift and attenuation. By detecting the change of the output optical signal, the concentration of gas molecules was detected. Based on this principle, the sensor realized a gas sensitivity of 0.015?nm/ppm. The research shows that the sensing structure has the advantages of small volume, good mechanical strength, excellent spectral quality, and high sensitivity.     

Long-period fiber grating sensor induced by electric-arc discharge for dual-parameter measurement

A long-period fiber grating sensor induced by electric-arc discharge has been fabricated and demonstrated for the simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain. The proposed sensor was fabricated by inscribing a sing-mode fiber with periodic electric-arc discharge technology that was produced from a commercial fusion splicer. The resonance dips formed by the coupling between cladding modes and core mode have different sensitivity responses, so the simultaneous measurement for multiple parameters was realized by monitoring the wavelength shifts of the resonance dips. Because of the easy fabrication and low cost, the sensor is promising for applications for which simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain is required.