Enhanced Sensitivity in Optical Sensors through Self-Image Theory and Graphene Oxide Coating.

This paper presents an approach to enhancing sensitivity in optical sensors by integrating self-image theory and graphene oxide coating. The sensor is specifically engineered to quantitatively assess glucose concentrations in aqueous solutions that simulate the spectrum of glucose levels typically encountered in human saliva. Prior to sensor fabrication, the theoretical self-image points were rigorously validated using Multiphysics COMSOL 6.0 software. Subsequently, the sensor was fabricated to a length corresponding to the second self-image point (29.12 mm) and coated with an 80 µm/mL graphene oxide film using the Layer-by-Layer technique. The sensor characterization in refractive index demonstrated a wavelength sensitivity of 200 ± 6 nm/RIU. Comparative evaluations of uncoated and graphene oxide-coated sensors applied to measure glucose in solutions ranging from 25 to 200 mg/dL showed an eightfold sensitivity improvement with one bilayer of Polyethyleneimine/graphene. The final graphene oxide-based sensor exhibited a sensitivity of 10.403 ± 0.004 pm/(mg/dL) and demonstrated stability with a low standard deviation of 0.46 pm/min and a maximum theoretical resolution of 1.90 mg/dL.

Fiber Loop Mirror Based on Optical Fiber Circulator for Sensing Applications.

In this paper, a different Fiber Loop Mirror (FLM) configuration with two circulators is presented. This configuration is demonstrated and characterized for sensing applications. This new design concept was used for strain and torsion discrimination. For strain measurement, the interference fringe displacement has a sensitivity of (0.576 ± 0.009) pm‧µÎµ-1. When the FFT (Fast Fourier Transformer) is calculated and the frequency shift and signal amplitude are monitored, the sensitivities are (-2.1 ± 0.3) × 10-4 nm-1 µÎµ-1 and (4.9 ± 0.3) × 10-7 µÎµ-1, respectively. For the characterization in torsion, an FFT peaks variation of (-2.177 ± 0.002) × 10-12 nm-1/° and an amplitude variation of (1.02 ± 0.06) × 10-3/° are achieved. This configuration allows the use of a wide range of fiber lengths and with different refractive indices for controlling the free spectral range (FSR) and achieving refractive index differences, i.e., birefringence, higher than 10-2, which is essential for the development of high sensitivity physical parameter sensors, such as operating on the Vernier effect. Furthermore, this FLM configuration allows the system to be balanced, which is not possible with traditional FLMs.

Ring Cavity Erbium-Doped Fiber for Refractive Index Measurements.

In this study, an interrogation system based on an erbium-doped fiber ring cavity for refractive index measurements is presented and experimentally demonstrated. This cavity ring includes a 1 × 3 coupler wherein one of the fiber output ports is used to increase the optical power of the system by means of an FBG used as a reflector. The other two output ports are used as a refractive index sensing head and reference port, respectively. An experimental demonstration of this proposed sensor system for the measurement of a distinct refractive index is presented.

Optical Strain Gauge Prototype Based on a High Sensitivity Balloon-like Interferometer and Additive Manufacturing.

An optical strain gauge based on a balloon-like interferometer structure formed by a bent standard single-mode fiber combined with a 3D printer piece has been presented and demonstrated, which can be used to measure displacement. The interferometer has a simple and compact size, easy fabrication, low cost, and is repeatable. The sensor is based on the interference between the core and cladding modes. This is caused by the fiber's curvature because when light propagates through the curved balloon-shaped interferometer region, a portion of it will be released from the core limitation and coupled to the cladding. The balloon has an axial displacement as a result of how the artwork was constructed. The sensor head is sandwiched between two cantilevers such that when there is a displacement, the dimension associated with the micro bend is altered. The sensor response as a function of displacement can be determined using wavelength shift or intensity change interrogation techniques. Therefore, this optical strain gauge is a good option for applications where structure displacement needs to be examined. The sensor presents a sensitivity of 55.014 nm for displacement measurements ranging from 0 to 10 mm and a strain sensitivity of 500.13 pm/µÏµ.

A Simple Optical Sensor Based on Multimodal Interference Superimposed on Additive Manufacturing for Diameter Measurement.

In many areas, the analysis of a cylindrical structure is necessary, and a form to analyze it is by evaluating the diameter changes. Some areas can be cited: pipelines for oil or gas distribution and radial growth of trees whose diameter changes are directly related to irrigation and the radial expansion since it depends on the water soil deficit. For some species, these radial variations can change in around 5 mm. This paper proposes and experimentally investigates a sensor based on a core diameter mismatch technique for diameter changes measurement. The sensor structure is a combination of a cylindrical piece developed using a 3D printer and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The pieces were developed to assist in monitoring the diameter variation. It is formed by splicing an uncoated short section of MMF (Multimode Fiber) between two standard SMFs (Singlemode Fibers) called SMF-MMF-SMF (SMS), where the MMF length is 15 mm. The work is divided into two main parts. Firstly, the sensor was fixed at two points on the first developed piece, and the diameter reduction caused dips or peaks shift of the transmittance spectrum due to curvature and strain influence. The fixation point (FP) distances used are: 5 mm, 10 mm, and 15 mm. Finally, the setup with the best sensitivity was chosen, from first results, to develop another test with an optimization. This optimization is performed in the printed piece where two supports are created so that only the strain influences the sensor. The results showed good sensitivity, reasonable dynamic range, and easy setup reproduction. Therefore, the sensor could be used for diameter variation measurement for proposed applications.

Optical Fiber Sensors for Structural Monitoring in Power Transformers.

Power transformers are central elements of power transmission systems and their deterioration can lead to system failures, causing major disruptions in service. Catastrophic failures can occur, posing major environmental hazards due to fires, explosions, or oil spillage. Early fault detection can be accomplished or estimated using electrical sensors or a chemical analysis of oil or gas samples. Conventional methods are incapable of real-time measurements with a low electrical noise due to time-consuming analyses or susceptibility to electromagnetic interference. Optical fiber sensors, passive elements that are immune to electromagnetic noise, are capable of structural monitoring by being enclosed in power transformers. In this work, optical fiber sensors embedded in 3D printed structures are studied for vibration monitoring. The fiber sensor is encapsulated between two pressboard spacers, simulating the conditions inside the power transformer, and characterized for vibrations with frequencies between 10 and 800 Hz, with a constant acceleration of 10 m/s2. Thermal aging and electrical tests are also accomplished, aiming to study the oil compatibility of the 3D printed structure. The results reported in this work suggest that structural monitoring in power transformers can be achieved using optical fiber sensors, prospecting real-time monitoring.

Acoustic Optical Fiber Sensor Based on Graphene Oxide Membrane.

A Fabry-Pérot acoustic sensor based on a graphene oxide membrane was developed with the aim to achieve a faster and simpler fabrication procedure when compared to similar graphene-based acoustic sensors. In addition, the proposed sensor was fabricated using methods that reduce chemical hazards and environmental impacts. The developed sensor, with an optical cavity of around 246 µm, showed a constant reflected signal amplitude of 6.8 ± 0.1 dB for 100 nm wavelength range. The sensor attained a wideband operation range between 20 and 100 kHz, with a maximum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 32.7 dB at 25 kHz. The stability and sensitivity to temperatures up to 90 °C was also studied. Moreover, the proposed sensor offers the possibility to be applied as a wideband microphone or to be applied in more complex systems for structural analysis or imaging.

Giant refractometric sensitivity by combining extreme optical Vernier effect and modal interference.

The optical Vernier effect consists of overlapping responses of a sensing and a reference interferometer with slightly shifted interferometric frequencies. The beating modulation thus generated presents high magnified sensitivity and resolution compared to the sensing interferometer, if the two interferometers are slightly out of tune with each other. However, the outcome of such a condition is a large beating modulation, immeasurable by conventional detection systems due to practical limitations of the usable spectral range. We propose a method to surpass this limitation by using a few-mode sensing interferometer instead of a single-mode one. The overlap response of the different modes produces a measurable envelope, whilst preserving an extremely high magnification factor, an order of magnification higher than current state-of-the-art performances. Furthermore, we demonstrate the application of that method in the development of a giant sensitivity fibre refractometer with a sensitivity of around 500 µm/RIU (refractive index unit) and with a magnification factor over 850.

Discrimination of Benign and Malignant Lesions in Canine Mammary Tissue Samples Using Raman Spectroscopy: A Pilot Study.

Breast cancer is a health problem that affects individual life quality and the family system. It is the most frequent type of cancer in women, but men are also affected. As an integrative approach, comparative oncology offers an opportunity to learn more about natural cancers in different species. Methods based on Raman spectroscopy have shown significant potential in the study of the human breast through the fingerprinting of biological tissue, which provides valuable information that can be used to identify, characterize and discriminate structures in breast tissue, in both healthy and carcinogenic environments. One of the most important applications of Raman spectroscopy in medical diagnosis is the characterization of microcalcifications, which are highly important diagnostic indicators of breast tissue diseases. Raman spectroscopy has been used to analyze the chemical composition of microcalcifications. These occur in benign and malignant lesions in the human breast, and Raman helps to discriminate microcalcifications as type I and type II according to their composition. This paper demonstrates the recent progress in understanding how this vibrational technique can discriminate through the fingerprint regions of lesions in unstained histology sections from canine mammary glands.

Optical Fiber Temperature Sensors and Their Biomedical Applications.

The use of sensors in the real world is on the rise, providing information on medical diagnostics for healthcare and improving quality of life. Optical fiber sensors, as a result of their unique properties (small dimensions, capability of multiplexing, chemical inertness, and immunity to electromagnetic fields) have found wide applications, ranging from structural health monitoring to biomedical and point-of-care instrumentation. Furthermore, these sensors usually have good linearity, rapid response for real-time monitoring, and high sensitivity to external perturbations. Optical fiber sensors, thus, present several features that make them extremely attractive for a wide variety of applications, especially biomedical applications. This paper reviews achievements in the area of temperature optical fiber sensors, different configurations of the sensors reported over the last five years, and application of this technology in biomedical applications.

Optical Harmonic Vernier Effect: A New Tool for High Performance Interferometric Fibre Sensors.

The optical Vernier effect magnifies the sensing capabilities of an interferometer, allowing for unprecedented sensitivities and resolutions to be achieved. Just like a caliper uses two different scales to achieve higher resolution measurements, the optical Vernier effect is based on the overlap in the responses of two interferometers with slightly detuned interference signals. Here, we present a novel approach in detail, which introduces optical harmonics to the Vernier effect through Fabry-Perot interferometers, where the two interferometers can have very different frequencies in the interferometric pattern. We demonstrate not only a considerable enhancement compared to current methods, but also better control of the sensitivity magnification factor, which scales up with the order of the harmonics, allowing us to surpass the limits of the conventional Vernier effect as used today. In addition, this novel concept opens also new ways of dimensioning the sensing structures, together with improved fabrication tolerances.

Detection of the Crystallization Process of Paracetamol with a Multi-Mode Optical Fiber in a Reflective Configuration.

A configuration of a refractometer sensor is described with the aim of optically detecting the crystallization process of paracetamol. The developed sensing head is based on a conventional cleaved multi-mode fiber. The fiber tip sensor structure was submitted to contact with the liquid of interest (paracetamol fully dissolved in 40% v/v of ethanol/water) and the crystallization process of paracetamol, induced with continued exposure to air, was monitored in real time.

Micro-Cantilever Displacement Detection Based in Optical Fiber Tip.

This work demonstrates the potential of combining a microsphere with a tip for the functionality of the contact sensor. This sensor consists of a tip aligned with the fiber core and a microsphere, which appears during tip formation. This new structure was produced using the electric arc machine. The sensor operation consists of the variation of the tip curvature, which causes a variation of the optical paths and, consequently, a change in the output signal. The study of this micro-cantilever consisted of an exploration of the contact mode. In addition, the sensor was characterized by temperature, which shows very low sensitivity and vibration. This last characterization was performed with two configurations parallel and perpendicular to the oscillating surface. The perpendicular case showed higher sensitivity and has an operating band of 0 Hz to 20 kHz. In this configuration, for frequencies up to 2 Hz, the intensity varies linearly with the frequencies and with a sensitivity of 0.032 ± 0.001 (Hz-1). For the parallel case, the operating band was from 1.5 kHz to 7 kHz.

Multimode Fabry⁻Perot Interferometer Probe Based on Vernier Effect for Enhanced Temperature Sensing.

New miniaturized sensors for biological and medical applications must be adapted to the measuring environments and they should provide a high measurement resolution to sense small changes. The Vernier effect is an effective way of magnifying the sensitivity of a device, allowing for higher resolution sensing. We applied this concept to the development of a small-size optical fiber Fabry⁻Perot interferometer probe that presents more than 60-fold higher sensitivity to temperature than the normal Fabry⁻Perot interferometer without the Vernier effect. This enables the sensor to reach higher temperature resolutions. The silica Fabry⁻Perot interferometer is created by focused ion beam milling of the end of a tapered multimode fiber. Multiple Fabry⁻Perot interferometers with shifted frequencies are generated in the cavity due to the presence of multiple modes. The reflection spectrum shows two main components in the Fast Fourier transform that give rise to the Vernier effect. The superposition of these components presents an enhancement of sensitivity to temperature. The same effect is also obtained by monitoring the reflection spectrum node without any filtering. A temperature sensitivity of -654 pm/°C was obtained between 30 °C and 120 °C, with an experimental resolution of 0.14 °C. Stability measurements are also reported.

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index using focused ion beam milled Fabry-Perot cavities in optical fiber micro-tips.

Optical fiber micro-tips are promising devices for sensing applications in small volume and difficult to access locations, such as biological and biomedical settings. The tapered fiber tips are prepared by dynamic chemical etching, reducing the size from 125 µm to just a few µm. Focused ion beam milling is then used to create cavity structures on the tapered fiber tips. Two different Fabry-Perot micro-cavities have been prepared and characterized: a solid silica cavity created by milling two thin slots and a gap cavity. A third multi-cavity structure is fabricated by combining the concepts of solid silica cavity and gap cavity. This micro-tip structure is analyzed using a fast Fourier transform method to demultiplex the signals of each cavity. Simultaneous measurement of temperature and external refractive index is then demonstrated, presenting sensitivities of - 15.8 pm/K and -1316 nm/RIU, respectively.

Fabry-Perot cavity based on silica tube for strain sensing at high temperatures.

In this work, a Fabry-Perot cavity based on a new silica tube design is proposed. The tube presents a cladding with a thickness of ~14 µm and a hollow core. The presence of four small rods, of ~20 µm diameter each, placed in diametrically opposite positions ensure the mechanical stability of the tube. The cavity, formed by splicing a section of the silica tube between two sections of single mode fiber, is characterized in strain and temperature (from room temperature to 900 °C). When the sensor is exposed to high temperatures, there is a change in the response to strain. The influence of the thermal annealing is investigated in order to improve the sensing head performance.

Experimental and numerical characterization of a hybrid Fabry-Pérot cavity for temperature sensing.

A hybrid Fabry-Pérot cavity sensing head based on a four-bridge microstructured fiber is characterized for temperature sensing. The characterization of this cavity is performed numerically and experimentally in the L-band. The sensing head output signal presents a linear variation with temperature changes, showing a sensitivity of 12.5 pm/°C. Moreover, this Fabry-Pérot cavity exhibits good sensitivity to polarization changes and high stability over time.

Silica microspheres array strain sensor.

An optical fiber sensor based on arrays of silica microspheres is proposed. The microspheres are produced separately using a fusion splicer and then also connected in series by fusion splicing. Three different sensors are presented, differing by the number of microspheres. Due to the geometry of the structures, different behaviors are obtained in strain measurements. Sensors with an odd number of microspheres are more sensitive to strain than the ones with an even number of microspheres. Additionally, the sensing heads are subjected to temperature where a sensitivity of 20.3 pm/°C is obtained in a range of 200°C.

Focused ion beam post-processing of optical fiber Fabry-Perot cavities for sensing applications.

Focused ion beam technology is combined with chemical etching of specifically designed fibers to create Fabry-Perot interferometers. Hydrofluoric acid is used to etch special fibers and create microwires with diameters of 15 µm. These microwires are then milled with a focused ion beam to create two different structures: an indented Fabry-Perot structure and a cantilever Fabry-Perot structure that are characterized in terms of temperature. The cantilever structure is also sensitive to vibrations and is capable of measuring frequencies in the range 1 Hz - 40 kHz.

In vivo measurement of the pressure signal in the intervertebral disc of an anesthetized sheep.

The purpose of the present study was to measure the intradiscal pressure signal of an anesthetized sheep under spontaneous breathing. An ultra-miniature fiber optic high-pressure sensor was implanted into the nucleus pulposus of the fifth lumbar intervertebral using a dorsolateral transforaminal approach. Results suggested the periodicity of the intradiscal pressure signal was similar to the mean respiratory rate of the animal. The average resting intradiscal pressure was also calculated and compared to available data.