title: A miniaturized sensor consisting of concentric metallic nanorings on the end facet of an optical fiber.
abstract: A polarization-independent optical sensor is created by fabricating a concentric gold ring grating with a period of 900 nm on the end facet of an optical fiber. The sensing function of this miniaturized device is realized by sending white light as a probe to the gold rings and collecting the response signal in the back-reflection through the optical fiber. A pronounced peak due to the Rayleigh anomaly of the gold ring grating is observed in the reflection spectrum, the center wavelength of which is sensitive to the change in the environmental refractive index of the fiber end facet. Theoretical analysis not only shows excellent agreement with the experimental results, but also gives insights into the mechanisms of this kind of sensor. Using the center position of the Rayleigh peak as the response signal, a high sensitivity dλ/dn of 900 nm per unity refractive index is realized for this sensor and a resolution of Δn/n ≈ 1% is demonstrated in preliminary experiments. The sensitivity is solely determined by the period of the grating.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Information Photonics Technology and College of Applied Sciences, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shengfei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Darmawi
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Henning
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Klar
authors.forename: Xinping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D008027:Light; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D008904:Miniaturization / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D012031:Refractometry
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D006046:Gold