Generation of THz radiation through molecular modulation in hydrogen-filled hybrid anti-resonant fibers.

We study the generation of narrowband terahertz (THz) pulses by stimulated Raman scattering and molecular modulation in hydrogen-filled hybrid hollow-core fibers. Using a judicious combination of materials and transverse structures, this waveguide design enables simultaneous confinement of optical and THz signals with reasonably low attenuation, as well as high nonlinear overlap. The THz pulses are then generated as the second Stokes band of a ns-long near-infrared pump pulse, aided by Raman coherence waves excited in the gaseous core by the beat-note created by the pump and its first Stokes band. Optimization of the fiber characteristics facilitates phase matching between the corresponding transitions and coherence waves while avoiding coherent gain suppression, resulting in potential optical-to-THz conversion efficiencies up to 60%, as confirmed by rigorous numerical modelling under ideal zero-loss conditions. When the current optical material constraints are considered, however, the attainable efficiencies relax to 0.2%, a still competitive value compared to other systems. The approach is in principle power and energy scalable, as well as tunable in the 1-10 THz range without any spectral gaps, thereby opening new pathways to the development of fiber-based THz sources complementary to other mature technologies such as quantum cascade lasers.

Plasmonic sensors based on tilted Bragg gratings in multicore optical fibers.

Bare and gold-coated tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) can nowadays be considered as a mature technology for volume and surface refractometric sensing, respectively. As for other technologies, a continuous effort is made towards the production of even more sensitive sensors, thereby enabling a high-resolution screening of the surroundings and the possible detection of rare events. To this aim, we study in this work the development of TFBG refractometers in 4-core fibers. In particular, we show that the refractometric sensitivity of the cut-off mode can reach 100 nm/RIU for a bare grating. Using another demodulation method, a tenfold sensitivity increase is obtained when tracking the extremum of the SPR (surface plasmon resonance) envelope for a gold-coated TFBG configuration. Immobilization of DNA probes was performed as a proof-of-concept to assess the high surface sensitivity of the device.

Fabrication Quality Assessment Based on the Coupling of a Dual-Core Microstructured Polymer Optical Fiber.

In this paper we report on the theoretical analysis and fabrication of a dual-core microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) and demonstrate how the coupling characteristics of a dual-core mPOF may be a key factor to assess the quality of the fabrication process. The coupling characteristics of this fiber have been tested and, for comparison purposes, simulations regarding the effects of inaccuracies during the manufacturing process were carried out to evaluate the fabrication quality. Results indicate that theoretical, simulation and experimental data are in good agreement, which highlights the uniformity of the microstructure along the fiber and the quality of its fabrication process. In fact, the manufactured mPOF reached a coupling efficiency up to 95.26%, which makes this mPOF appealing for applications in which highly efficient power couplers are required.

Hydrogel-Core Microstructured Polymer Optical Fibers for Selective Fiber Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.

A new approach of Fiber Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (FERS) is described within this article based on the use of Hydrogel-Core microstructured Polymer Optical Fibers (HyC-mPOF). The incorporation of the hydrogel only on the core of the Hollow-Core microstructured Polymer Optical Fiber (HC-mPOF) enables to perform FERS measurements in a functionalized matrix, enabling high selectivity Raman measurements. The hydrogel formation was continuously monitored and quantified using a Principal Component Analysis verifying the coherence between the components and the Raman spectrum of the hydrogel. The performed measurements with high and low affinity target molecules prove the feasibility of the presented HyC-mPOF platform.

Sensing Applications in Aircrafts Using Polymer Optical Fibres.

We report on recent advances in the use of inexpensive polymer optical fibres (POFs) for sensing applications in avionics. The sensors analysed in this manuscript take advantage of the unique properties of polymers, such as high flexibility, elasticity, and sensitivity, and they range from strain, elongation, and vibration interrogators to level and temperature meters, leading to cost-effective techniques for structural health monitoring in aircraft structures. We also highlight recent power-supply methods using Power-over-POF in order to feed sensors remotely, and we discuss the constraints imposed by connectors on the performance of POF networks in aircrafts.

Performance Comparison of Three Fibre-Based Reflective Optical Sensors for Aero Engine Monitorization.

Among the different available optical technologies, fibre bundle-based reflective optical sensors represent an interesting alternative for parameter monitorization in aero engines. Tip clearance is one of the parameters of great concern for engine designers and engineers. In the framework of this optical technology, three fibre-based reflective optical sensors have been compared. Two of them are custom designed and based on the same geometrical fibre arrangement, whereas the third one is commercially available and relies on a different geometrical arrangement of the fibres. Their performance has been compared in clearance measurements carried out during an experimental program followed at a transonic wind tunnel for aero turbines. The custom-designed solution that operates in the most sensitive part of its response curve proved to be by far the most reliable tool for clearance measurements. Its high resolution opens up the possibility to detect small blade features such as cracks, reflectivity changes, etc. that otherwise could not be tracked. These results show that the detection of unexpected features on blade tips may have an important effect on how the clearance is calculated, ultimately giving rise to corrective actions.

Design, Fabrication and Testing of a High-Sensitive Fibre Sensor for Tip Clearance Measurements.

A highly sensitive fibre bundle-based reflective optical sensor has been designed and fabricated for Tip Clearance measurements in a turbine rig. The sensor offers high spatial and temporal resolution. The sensor probe consists of a single-mode transmitting fibre and two concentric rings of receiving multimode fibres that collect reflected light in a differential detection gain configuration, yielding a highly linear calibration curve for distance measurements. The clearance measurement range is approximately 2 mm around the central point fixed at 3.2 mm from the probe tip, and the sensitivity of the probe is 61.73 mm-1. The fibre bundle has been designed to ensure that the distance security specifications required for the experimental program of the turbine are met. The optical sensor has operated under demanding conditions set by the blade and casing design. The experimental results obtained so far are promising and lead us to think that the optical sensor has great potential for online clearance measurements with high precision.

Interferometer based on strongly coupled multi-core optical fiber for accurate vibration sensing.

We report on the use of a simple interferometer built with strongly-coupled core optical fiber for accurate vibration sensing. Our multi-core fiber (MCF) is designed to mode match a standard single-mode optical fiber (SMF). The interferometer consists of a low insertion loss SMF-MCF-SMF structure where only two super-modes interfere. The polymer coating of the MCF was structured and the interferometer was sandwiched between a flat piece and a V-groove. In this manner our device is highly sensitive to force with sensitivity reaching -4225 pm/N. To make the MCF interferometer sensitive to vibrations the flat piece was allowed to move, thus, its periodic movements exert cyclic localized pressure on the MCF which makes the interference pattern to shift periodically. Our sensors can be used to monitor vibrations in a broad frequency range with the advantage that the measurements are unaffected by temperature changes.

Photonic Low Cost Micro-Sensor for in-Line Wear Particle Detection in Flowing Lube Oils.

The presence of microscopic particles in suspension in industrial fluids is often an early warning of latent or imminent failures in the equipment or processes where they are being used. This manuscript describes work undertaken to integrate different photonic principles with a micro- mechanical fluidic structure and an embedded processor to develop a fully autonomous wear debris sensor for in-line monitoring of industrial fluids. Lens-less microscopy, stroboscopic illumination, a CMOS imager and embedded machine vision technologies have been merged to develop a sensor solution that is able to detect and quantify the number and size of micrometric particles suspended in a continuous flow of a fluid. A laboratory test-bench has been arranged for setting up the configuration of the optical components targeting a static oil sample and then a sensor prototype has been developed for migrating the measurement principles to real conditions in terms of operating pressure and flow rate of the oil. Imaging performance is quantified using micro calibrated samples, as well as by measuring real used lubricated oils. Sampling a large fluid volume with a decent 2D spatial resolution, this photonic micro sensor offers a powerful tool at very low cost and compacted size for in-line wear debris monitoring.

An Architecture for On-Line Measurement of the Tip Clearance and Time of Arrival of a Bladed Disk of an Aircraft Engine.

Safety and performance of the turbo-engine in an aircraft is directly affected by the health of its blades. In recent years, several improvements to the sensors have taken place to monitor the blades in a non-intrusive way. The parameters that are usually measured are the distance between the blade tip and the casing, and the passing time at a given point. Simultaneously, several techniques have been developed that allow for the inference-from those parameters and under certain conditions-of the amplitude and frequency of the blade vibration. These measurements are carried out on engines set on a rig, before being installed in an airplane. In order to incorporate these methods during the regular operation of the engine, signal processing that allows for the monitoring of those parameters at all times should be developed. This article introduces an architecture, based on a trifurcated optic sensor and a hardware processor, that fulfills this need. The proposed architecture is scalable and allows several sensors to be simultaneously monitored at different points around a bladed disk. Furthermore, the results obtained by the electronic system will be compared with the results obtained by the validation of the optic sensor.

Optical Tip Clearance Measurements as a Tool for Rotating Disk Characterization.

An experimental investigation on the vibrational behavior of a rotating disk by means of three optical fiber sensors is presented. The disk, which is a scale model of the real disk of an aircraft engine, was assembled in a wind tunnel in order to simulate real operation conditions. The pressure difference between the upstream and downstream sides of the disk causes an airflow that might force the disk to vibrate. To characterize this vibration, a set of parameters was determined by measuring the tip clearance of the disk: the amplitude, the frequency and the number of nodal diameters in the disk. All this information allowed the design of an upgraded prototype of the disk, whose performance was also characterized by the same method. An optical system was employed for the measurements, in combination with a strain gauge mounted on the disk surface, which served to confirm the results obtained. The data of the strain gauge coincided closely with those provided by the optical fiber sensors, thus demonstrating the suitability of this innovative technique to evaluate the vibrational behavior of rotating disks.

U-Shaped and Surface Functionalized Polymer Optical Fiber Probe for Glucose Detection.

In this work we show an optical fiber evanescent wave absorption probe for glucose detection in different physiological media. High selectivity is achieved by functionalizing the surface of an only-core poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer optical fiber with phenilboronic groups, and enhanced sensitivity by using a U-shaped geometry. Employing a supercontinuum light source and a high-resolution spectrometer, absorption measurements are performed in the broadband visible light spectrum. Experimental results suggest the feasibility of such a fiber probe as a low-cost and selective glucose detector.

Ultrasensitive vector bending sensor based on multicore optical fiber.

In this Letter, we demonstrate a compellingly simple directional bending sensor based on multicore optical fibers (MCF). The device operates in reflection mode and consists of a short segment of a three-core MCF that is fusion spliced at the distal end of a standard single mode optical fiber. The asymmetry of our MCF along with the high sensitivity of the supermodes of the MCF make the small bending on the MCF induce drastic changes in the supermodes, their excitation, and, consequently, on the reflected spectrum. Our MCF bending sensor was found to be highly sensitive (4094 pm/deg) to small bending angles. Moreover, it is capable of distinguishing multiple bending orientations.

Tip-Clearance Measurement in the First Stage of the Compressor of an Aircraft Engine.

In this article, we report the design of a reflective intensity-modulated optical fiber sensor for blade tip-clearance measurement, and the experimental results for the first stage of a compressor of an aircraft engine operating in real conditions. The tests were performed in a ground test cell, where the engine completed four cycles from idling state to takeoff and back to idling state. During these tests, the rotational speed of the compressor ranged between 7000 and 15,600 rpm. The main component of the sensor is a tetrafurcated bundle of optical fibers, with which the resulting precision of the experimental measurements was 12 µm for a measurement range from 2 to 4 mm. To get this precision the effect of temperature on the optoelectronic components of the sensor was compensated by calibrating the sensor in a climate chamber. A custom-designed MATLAB program was employed to simulate the behavior of the sensor prior to its manufacture.

Photonic crystal fiber interferometric vector bending sensor.

A compact and highly sensitive interferometric bending sensor (inclinometer) capable of distinguishing the bending or inclination orientation is demonstrated. The device operates in reflection mode and consists of a short segment of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) inserted in conventional single-mode optical fiber (SMF). A microscopic collapsed zone in the PCF-SMF junction allows the excitation and recombination of core modes, hence, to build a mode interferometer. Bending on the device induces asymmetric refractive index changes in the PCF core as well as losses. As a result, the effective indices and intensities of the interfering modes are altered, which makes the interference pattern shift and shrink. The asymmetric index changes in the PCF make our device capable of distinguishing the bending orientation. The sensitivity of our sensor is up to 1225 pm/degree and it can be used to monitor small bending angles (±2°). We believe that the attributes of our sensor make it appealing in a number of applications.

Optical Fiber Sensors for Aircraft Structural Health Monitoring.

Aircraft structures require periodic and scheduled inspection and maintenance operations due to their special operating conditions and the principles of design employed to develop them. Therefore, structural health monitoring has a great potential to reduce the costs related to these operations. Optical fiber sensors applied to the monitoring of aircraft structures provide some advantages over traditional sensors. Several practical applications for structures and engines we have been working on are reported in this article. Fiber Bragg gratings have been analyzed in detail, because they have proved to constitute the most promising technology in this field, and two different alternatives for strain measurements are also described. With regard to engine condition evaluation, we present some results obtained with a reflected intensity-modulated optical fiber sensor for tip clearance and tip timing measurements in a turbine assembled in a wind tunnel.

Locally pressed photonic crystal fiber interferometer for multiparameter sensing.

A mode interferometer consisting of a short section of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) fusion spliced to a standard single-mode optical fiber with localized perturbations is proposed for multiparameter sensing. In this sensing configuration, the parameter being sensed changes the visibility (an absolute parameter) of the interference pattern and also causes a shift (a relative parameter) to the interference pattern. To achieve this dual effect, a portion of the PCF is squeezed on localized regions with a serrated mechanical piece. In this manner, we introduce attenuation losses and effective refractive index changes to the interfering modes, hence, visibility changes and a shift to the interference pattern. Our device is suitable for monitoring diverse physical parameters, such as weight, lateral force, pressure, load, etc., with the advantage that compensation to temperature or power fluctuations is not required. Moreover, the sensor sensitivity can be adjusted in a simple manner.

Amplified spontaneous emission in graded-index polymer optical fibers: theory and experiment.

In this work we analyze experimentally and theoretically the properties of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in a rhodamine-6G-doped graded-index polymer optical fiber. A theoretical model based on the laser rate equations describes the ASE features successfully. The dependence of the ASE threshold and efficiency on fiber length is analyzed in detail.

Design and development of a low-cost optical current sensor.

In this paper we demonstrate the design of a low-cost optical current sensor. The sensor principle is the Faraday rotation of a light beam through a magneto-optical material, SF2, when a magnetic field is present. The prototype has a high sensitivity and a high linearity for currents ranging from 0 up to 800 A. The error of the optical fibre sensor is smaller than 1% for electric currents over 175 A.

Proof of concept of impact detection in composites using fiber bragg grating arrays.

Impact detection in aeronautical structures allows predicting their future reliability and performance. An impact can produce microscopic fissures that could evolve into fractures or even the total collapse of the structure, so it is important to know the location and severity of each impact. For this purpose, optical fibers with Bragg gratings are used to analyze each impact and the vibrations generated by them. In this paper it is proven that optical fibers with Bragg gratings can be used to detect impacts, and also that a high-frequency interrogator is necessary to collect valuable information about the impacts. The use of two interrogators constitutes the main novelty of this paper.