Thermal annealing was initially introduced for multiplexing purposes, since it can induce a permanent negative Bragg wavelength shift for polymer fibre grating sensors. At a later stage, it is shown that annealing can also provide additional benefits, such as strain and humidity sensitivity enhancement and augmented temperature operational range. In this paper, we report additional usage of thermal annealing on PMMA fibre Bragg grating sensors. We show the possibility to tune Bragg wavelengths to longer wavelengths permanently by stretching the polymer optical fibre during the thermal annealing process. An array of sensors fabricated with only one phase-mask, demonstrates the concept by having Bragg wavelengths below and above the original inscribed spectral position. In addition, we report that thermal annealing can be also used to enhance the performance of sensors when used for stress and force monitoring.
In this contribution we report on the fabrication of novel bandpass transmission filters based on PS-FBGs in microstructured polymer fibers at telecom wavelengths. The phase mask technique is employed to fabricate several superimposed gratings with slight different periods in order to form Moiré structures with a single or various π phase shifts along the device. Simulations and experimental results are included in order to demonstrate very narrowband transmission filters. Experimental characterization under strain and temperature variations is provided in a non-annealed fiber and time stability of the fabricated devices has been also measured under different pre-strain conditions.
A microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) Bragg grating sensor system for the simultaneous measurement of temperature and relative humidity (RH) has been developed and characterized. The sensing head is based on two in-line fiber Bragg gratings recorded in a mPOF. The sensor system has a root mean square deviation of 1.04 % RH and 0.8 °C in the range 10 to 90% RH and 20 to 80 °C. The proposed sensor system is easy to fabricate, cheap and compact.
We experimentally demonstrate a scheme for improving the intrinsic pressure sensitivity of fiber Bragg-gratings (FBGs) inscribed in polymer optical fibers by applying pre-strain in order to suppress the pressure induced mechanical contraction of the fiber. This contraction would otherwise contribute to a blueshift of the Brag-wavelength, counteracting the dominant redshift caused by the stress-optic effect, which effectively reduces the pressure sensitivity of the FBG. By applying this technique we are able to improve the sensitivity of the FBG from 2.8 pm/bar to 7.3 pm/bar.
Thermal annealing can be used to induce a permanent negative Bragg wavelength shift for polymer fibre grating sensors and it was originally used for multiplexing purposes. Recently, researchers showed that annealing can also provide additional benefits, such as strain and humidity sensitivity enhancement and augmented temperature operational range. The annealing process can change both the optical and mechanical properties of the fibre. In this paper, the annealing effects on the stress and force sensitivities of PMMA fibre Bragg grating sensors are investigated. The incentive for that investigation was an unexpected behaviour observed in an array of sensors which were used for liquid level monitoring. One sensor exhibited much lower pressure sensitivity and that was the only one that was not annealed. To further investigate the phenomenon, additional sensors were photo-inscribed and characterised with regard their stress and force sensitivities. Then, the fibres were annealed by placing them in hot water, controlling with that way the humidity factor. After annealing, stress and force sensitivities were measured again. The results show that the annealing can improve the stress and force sensitivity of the devices. This can provide better performing sensors for use in stress, force and pressure sensing applications.
The first demonstration of a polymer optical fibre Bragg grating (POFBG) embedded in a 3-D printed structure is
reported. Its cyclic strain performance and temperature characteristics are examined and discussed. The sensing patch
has a repeatable strain sensitivity of 0.38 pm/μepsilon. Its temperature behaviour is unstable, with temperature sensitivity
values varying between 30-40 pm/°C.
This paper reports the first demonstration of a silica fibre Bragg grating (SOFBG) embedded in an FDM 3-D printed housing to yield a dual grating temperature-compensated strain sensor. We also report the first ever integration of polymer fibre Bragg grating (POFBG) within a 3-D printed sensing patch for strain or temperature sensing. The cyclic strain performance and temperature characteristics of both devices are examined and discussed. The strain sensitivities of the sensing patches were 0.40 and 0.95 pm/με for SOFBG embedded in ABS, 0.38 pm/με for POFBG in PLA, and 0.15 pm/με for POFBG in ABS. The strain response was linear above a threshold and repeatable. The temperature sensitivity of the SOFBG sensing patch was found to be up to 169 pm/°C, which was up to 17 times higher than for an unembedded silica grating. Unstable temperature response POFBG embedded in PLA was reported, with temperature sensitivity values varying between 30 and 40 pm/°C.
Safety in civil aviation is increasingly important due to the increase in flight routes and their more challenging nature. Like other important systems in aircraft, fuel level monitoring is always a technical challenge. The most frequently used level sensors in aircraft fuel systems are based on capacitive, ultrasonic and electric techniques, however they suffer from intrinsic safety concerns in explosive environments combined with issues relating to reliability and maintainability. In the last few years, optical fiber liquid level sensors (OFLLSs) have been reported to be safe and reliable and present many advantages for aircraft fuel measurement. Different OFLLSs have been developed, such as the pressure type, float type, optical radar type, TIR type and side-leaking type. Amongst these, many types of OFLLSs based on fiber gratings have been demonstrated. However, these sensors have not been commercialized because they exhibit some drawbacks: low sensitivity, limited range, long-term instability, or limited resolution. In addition, any sensors that involve direct interaction of the optical field with the fuel (either by launching light into the fuel tank or via the evanescent field of a fiber-guided mode) must be able to cope with the potential build up of contamination – often bacterial – on the optical surface. In this paper, a fuel level sensor based on microstructured polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (mPOFBGs), including poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and TOPAS fibers, embedded in diaphragms is investigated in detail. The mPOFBGs are embedded in two different types of diaphragms and their performance is investigated with aviation fuel for the first time, in contrast to our previous works, where water was used. Our new system exhibits a high performance when compared with other previously published in the literature, making it a potentially useful tool for aircraft fuel monitoring.
The annealing effects on strain and stress sensitivity of polymer optical fibre Bragg grating sensors after their photoinscription are investigated. PMMA optical fibre based Bragg grating sensors are first photo-inscribed and then they were placed into hot water for annealing. Strain, stress and force sensitivity measurements are taken before and after annealing. Parameters such as annealing time and annealing temperature are investigated. The change of the fibre diameter due to water absorption and the annealing process is also considered. The results show that annealing the polymer optical fibre tends to increase the strain, stress and force sensitivity of the photo-inscribed sensor.
We describe the fabrication of a polycarbonate (PC) micro-structured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) and the writing of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in it to enable strain and temperature measurements. We demonstrate the photosensitivity of a dopant-free PC fiber by grating inscription using a UV laser. We further show that PC Bragg gratings can be extended up to at least 3% without affecting the initial functionality of the micro-structured fiber. The response of PC FBGs to temperature up to 125°C is also investigated. Polycarbonate has good mechanical properties and its high temperature resistance might extend the range of application of polymeric FBGs.
We are reporting on the viscoelasticity of PMMA based Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) strain sensors when exposed to repeated sequences of long term strain and relaxation with various duty-cycles. In terms of the FBG wavelength and how it follows the strain cycle, we have shown that in the small strain regime (up to 1%) an elastic-dominated fast relaxing range, which is followed by a mainly viscous relaxation, depends both on the strain level and on the strain duration. For a small ratio of the strain-relax durations, this fast relaxation range stays almost the same. However, with increasing strain duration, for the same relaxation time, this range will be shortened, which might influence the sensing capabilities of the fiber sensor.
We have fabricated and characterised a humidity insensitive step index(SI) polymer optical fibre(POF) Bragg grating sensors. The fibre was made based on the injection molding technique, which is an efficient method for fast, flexible and cost effective preparation of the fibre preform. The fabricated SIPOF has a core made from TOPAS with a glass transition temperature of 134°C and a cladding from ZEONEX with a glass transition temperature of 138°C. The main advantages of the proposed SIPOF are the low water absorption and good chemical resistance compared to the conventional poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) based SIPOFs. The fibre has a minimum loss of ~6dB/m at 770nm.
The Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) optical fiber tip shape has been proposed for intensity based fluorescent sensors working on the principle of FRET (Förster Resonance Energy Transfer). A simple numerical Zemax model has been used to optimize the CPC tip geometry for a step-index multimode polymer optical fiber for an excitation and emission wavelength of 550 nm and 650nm, respectively. The model suggests an increase of a factor of 1.6 to 4 in the collected fluorescent power for an ideal CPC tip, as compared to the plane-cut fiber tip for fiber lengths between 5 and 45mm.
A highly sensitive liquid level monitoring system based on microstructured polymer optical fiber Bragg grating (mPOFBG) array sensors is reported for the first time. The configuration is based on five mPOFBGs inscribed in the same fiber in the 850 nm spectral region, showing the potential to interrogate liquid level by measuring the strain induced in each mPOFBG embedded in a silicone rubber (SR) diaphragm, which deforms due to hydrostatic pressure variations. The sensor exhibits a highly linear response over the sensing range, a good repeatability, and a high resolution. The sensitivity of the sensor is found to be 98 pm/cm of water, enhanced by more than a factor of 9 when compared to an equivalent sensor based on a silica fiber around 1550 nm. The temperature sensitivity is studied and a multi-sensor arrangement proposed, which has the potential to provide level readings independent of temperature and the liquid density.
In this paper we report, for the first time to our knowledge, an increase of the photosensitivity of a microstructured polymer optical fibre (mPOF) made of undoped PMMA due to applied strain during the fabrication of the gratings. In the work, fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) have been fabricated in undoped PMMA mPOFs with a hexagonal structure of three rings in the inner cladding. Two sets of FBGs were inscribed at two different resonant wavelengths (827 nm and 1562 nm) at different strains using an UV He-Cd laser at 325 nm focused by a lens and scanned over the fibre. We observed an increase of the reflection of the fibre Bragg gratings when the fabrication strain is higher. The photosensitivity mechanism is discussed in the paper along with the chemical reactions that could underlie the mechanism. Furthermore, the resolution limit of the material was investigated.
Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) writing in PMMA microstructured Polymer Optical Fibers (mPOFs) using the UV Phase Mask technique is a time consuming process requiring about 40 minutes to inscribe a grating in an undoped fiber. Here we demonstrate the FBG inscription with the writing times shorter than 10 min. By careful alligning and increasing the beam intensity in the core of the fiber, writing times as short as 6 minutes and 50 second were achieved. The FBGs were written in a 125 μm PMMA mPOF having 3-rings of holes, the reflection peaks were centred at 632.6 nm and have a reflectivity as high as 26 dB. We also demonstrate how the writing dynamics depends on the intensity of the writing beam.
We describe te production and characterization of FC/PC connectorised fibre Bragg grating sensors in polymer fibre. Sensors were recorded in few-moded and single mode microstructured fibre composed of poly (methyl methacrylate).
We report the fabrication and characterization of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with 870 nm resonance wavelength in a
single-mode TOPAS microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF). The grating has been UV-written with the phasemask
technique using a 325 nm HeCd laser. The static tensile strain sensitivity has been measured as 0.64 pm/μstrain,
and the temperature sensitivity was -60 pm/°C. This is the first 870nm FBG and the first demonstration of a negative
temperature response for the TOPAS FBG, for which earlier results have indicated a positive temperature response. The
relatively low material loss of the fiber at this wavelength compared to that at longer wavelengths will considerably
enhance the potential utility of the TOPAS FBG.
We experimentally studied several sensing characteristics of a birefringent microstructured polymer optical fiber. The
fiber exhibits a birefringence of the order 2×10-5 at 1.3 μm because of two small holes adjacent to the core. In this fiber,
we measured spectral dependence of phase and group modal birefringence, bending losses, polarimetric sensitivity to
strain and temperature. The sensitivity to strain was also examined for intermodal interference observed in the spectral
range below 0.8 μm. Finally, we showed that the material transmission windows shift as function of the applied strain.
This shift has an exponential character and saturates for greater strain.
Fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have been fabricated in polymer photonic crystal fibre (PCF). Results are presented
using two different types of polymer optical fibre (POF); first multimode PCF with a core diameter of 50μm based on
poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and second, endlessly single mode PCF with a core diameter of 6μm based on
TOPAS cyclic olefin copolymer. Bragg grating inscription was achieved using a 30mW continuous wave 325nm helium
cadmium laser. Both TOPAS and PMMA fibre have a large attenuation of around 1dB/cm in the 1550nm spectral region,
limiting fibre lengths to no longer than 10cm. However, both have improved attenuation of under 10dB/m in the 800nm
spectral region, thus allowing for fibre lengths to be much longer. The focus of current research is to utilise the increased
fibre length, widening the range of sensor applications. The Bragg wavelength shift of a grating fabricated in PMMA
fibre at 827nm has been monitored whilst the POF is thermally annealed at 80°C for 7 hours. The large length of POF
enables real time monitoring of the grating, which demonstrates a permanent negative Bragg wavelength shift of 24nm
during the 7 hours. This creates the possibility to manufacture multiplexed Bragg sensors in POF using a single phase
mask in the UV inscription manufacturing. TOPAS holds certain advantages over PMMA including a much lower
affinity for water, this should allow for the elimination of cross-sensitivity to humidity when monitoring temperature
changes or axial strain, which is a significant concern when using PMMA fibre.
We present a white-light spectral interferometric method for measuring the chromatic dispersion of microstructured
fibers made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The method uses an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer
with the fiber of known length placed in one of the interferometer arms and the other arm with adjustable
path length. We record the spectral interferograms to measure the equalization wavelength as a function of the
path length difference, or equivalently the differential group refractive index dispersion over a wide wavelength
range. First, we verify the applicability of the method by measuring the wavelength dependence of the differential
group refractive index of a pure silica fiber. We apply a five-term power series fit to the measured data and
confirm by its differentiation that the chromatic dispersion of pure silica glass agrees well with theory. Second, we
measure the chromatic dispersion for the fundamental mode supported by two different PMMA microstructured
fibers, the multimode fiber and the large-mode area one.
We demonstrate dispersion-engineering of microstructured polymer optical fibres (mPOFs) made of poly(methyl
methacrylate) (PMMA). A significant shift of the total dispersion from the material dispersion is confirmed
through measurement of the mPOF dispersion using white-light spectral interferometry. The influence of strong
loss peaks on the dispersion (through the Kramers-Kronig relations) is investigated theoretically. It is found that
the strong loss peaks of PMMA above 1100 nm can significantly modify the dispersion, while the losses below
1100 nm only modify the dispersion slightly. To increase the nonlinearity of the mPOFs we investigated doping
of PMMA with the highly-nonlinear dye Disperse Red 1. Both doping of a PMMA cane and direct doping of a
PMMA mPOF was performed.
Raman spectroscopy using a microstructured optical fiber is discussed, with focus on evanescent sensing. It is shown that the optimum fiber has a lattice pitch close to the airhole diameter.
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