Sensitive liquid refractive index sensors using tapered optical fiber tips.
An optical fiber sensor based on the change of optical confinement in a subwavelength tip is presented. The optical spot is substantially increased when the environmental refractive index (RI) increases from 1.3 to 1.4. By measuring the intensity of low angular spectral components, an intensity sensitivity up to 8000% per RI unit is achieved. The fiber tip sensors take advantage of the small detection volume and real-time responses. We demonstrate the application of the nanofiber sensors for measuring concentrations of acids and evaporation rates of aqueous mixtures.
Tai
Yi-Hsin
YH
Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan.
Wei
Pei-Kuen
PK
D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry*; D014159:Transducers
D012996:Solutions