Development of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) technology has created new research fields for optical sensors and telecommunication. The cross section geometry modifications of this type of fibers allow to influence their optical parameters. These modifications are not limited to change sizes and arrangements of an air holes’ lattice, but also replacing air with another material. In the paper we have shown how to change thermo-optical properties of a large mode area commercially available LMA-10 PCF by filling it with different chemical substances. Our previous research has led us to develop a class of optical fiber temperature threshold sensor transducers based on a partially filled PCF with higher alkanes. The principle of work of such a sensor transducer is to use a temperature bi-stability of a filling material because when the higher alkane is in the solid state light cannot pass through the transducer, and when it is in the liquid state light can be transmitted. One of the most important advantages of higher alkanes we used in the experiments are their different melting points, but the most important disadvantage is discrepancy between melting and crystallization temperatures and the sensor switches on and off for different temperatures. This effect called supercoiling appears due to the lack of nucleation centers. To reduce this effect the gold nanoparticels (NPs) in hexane colloid were used. We have prepared samples with three higher alkanes doped with 1% of Au NPs and we have shown their temperature and time responses. The proper selection of melting points of higher alkanes allows to design the multilevel temperature threshold sensor which can cover the temperature range from -20°C up to 70°C, and can be applied in chemical, oil, gas and energy industry.
In the paper we have presented a multilevel temperature threshold sensor. The sensor’s transducers were made by filling a commercially available Photonic Crystal Fiber - LMA-10. As a filling material we used a selected group of n-alkanes with different melting points. We have prepared a set of transducers and they were tested in an intensity based sensor configuration. The experimental results of the four transducers’ sensors showed that it is possible to distinguish five threshold levels from the sensor output signal which were correlated with measured temperatures of ON and OFF states for particular transducers.
The main aim of the research is to design new types of fiber optic transducers based on filled photonic crystal fibers for sensor applications. In our research we propose to use as a filling material nanoparticles’ ferrofluids (Fe3O4 NPs). Optical properties of such transducers are studied by measurements of spectral characteristics’ changes when transducers are exposed to temperature and magnetic field changes. From synthesized ferrofluid several mixtures with different NPs’ concentrations were prepared. Partially filled commercially available photonic crystal fiber LMA 10 (NKT Photonics) was used to design PCF transducers. Their thermo-optic properties were tested in a temperature chamber. Taking into account magnetic properties of synthetized NPs the patch cords based on a partially filled PM 1550 PCF were measured.
In this paper we propose alkanes-filled PCFs as the new class of transducers for optical fiber sensors. We investigated experimentally thermo-optic properties of a commercially available LMA8 partially filled with different alkanes with a higher number of carbon atoms. A partially filled PCF spliced with standard SMFs constitutes one of the newest type transducer. We have selected a group of eight alkanes which have melting points in different temperatures. An analysis of temperature spectral characteristics of these samples will allow to design an optical fiber sensor with different temperature thresholds at specific wavelengths.
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