Planar optical waveguide sensor of ammonia

Sergey S. Sarkisov; Michael J. Curley; Courtney Boykin; Darnell E. Diggs; James G. Grote; Frank Kenneth Hopkins

doi:10.1117/12.572426

7 December 2004 Planar optical waveguide sensor of ammonia

Sergey S. Sarkisov, Michael J. Curley, Courtney Boykin, Darnell E. Diggs, James G. Grote, Frank Kenneth Hopkins

Proceedings Volume 5586, Advanced Environmental, Chemical, and Biological Sensing Technologies II; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.572426
Event: Optics East, 2004, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Abstract

We describe a novel sensor of ammonia based on a planar optical waveguide made of a thin film of polymer polyimide doped with indicator dye bromocresol purple. The film of dye-doped polyimide demonstrated reversible increase of absorption with a peak near 600 nm in response to presence of ammonia in ambient air. Coupling of input and output optic fibers with the waveguide was done by means of coupling prisms or coupling grooves. The latter configuration has the advantage of low cost, less sensitivity to temperature variation, and the possibility of coupling from both sides of the waveguide. Special experimental setup was built to test the sensor. It included test gas chamber with sealed optic fiber feed-throughs, gas filling line, laser source, photodetector, and signal processing hardware and software. The sensor was capable of detecting 100 ppm of ammonia in air within 8 seconds. Further increase of sensitivity can be achieved by adding more dye dopant to the polymer, increase of the length of the waveguide, and suppression of noise. Overexposure of the sensor to more than 5000 ppm of ammonia led to the saturation of the polymer film and, as a result, significant decrease of sensitivity and increase of the response time. The sensor can be used as low cost component of a distributed optical network of chemical sensors for monitoring presence of hazardous industrial pollutants in air.

Citation Download Citation

Sergey S. Sarkisov, Michael J. Curley, Courtney Boykin, Darnell E. Diggs, James G. Grote, and Frank Kenneth Hopkins "Planar optical waveguide sensor of ammonia", Proc. SPIE 5586, Advanced Environmental, Chemical, and Biological Sensing Technologies II, (7 December 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.572426

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available