title: Miniature fiber-optic pressure sensor with a polymer diaphragm.
abstract: The fabrication and experimental investigation of a miniature optical fiber pressure sensor for biomedical and industrial applications are described. The sensor measures only 125 microm in diameter. The essential element is a thin polymer diaphragm that is positioned inside the hollow end of an optical fiber. The cavity at the fiber end is made by a simple and effective micromachining process based on wet etching in diluted HF acid. Thus a Fabry-Perot interferometer is formed between the inner fiber-cavity interface and the diaphragm. The fabrication technique is described in detail. Different sensor prototypes were fabricated upon 125 microm-diameter optical fiber that demonstrated pressure ranges from 0 to 40 and from 0 to 1200 kPa. A resolution of less than 10 Pa was demonstrated in practice. The fabrication technique presented facilitates production of simple and low-cost disposable pressure sensors by use of materials with that ensure the required biocompatibility.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Edvard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cibula
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Donlagić