title: PDMAA Hydrogel Coated U-Bend Humidity Sensor Suited for Mass-Production.
abstract: We present a full-polymer respiratory monitoring device suited for application in environments with strong magnetic fields (e.g., during an MRI measurement). The sensor is based on the well-known evanescent field method and consists of a 1 mm plastic optical fiber with a bent region where the cladding is removed and the fiber is coated with poly-dimethylacrylamide (PDMAA). The combination of materials allows for a mass-production of the device by spray-coating and enables integration in disposable medical devices like oxygen masks, which we demonstrate here. We also present results of the application of an autocorrelation-based algorithm for respiratory frequency determination that is relevant for real applications of the device.
authors.affiliation: Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies, Leibniz University Hannover, Nienburger Straße 17, 0167 Hannover, Germany. christian.kelb@hot.uni-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kelb
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik - IMTEK, Chemistry and Physics of Interfaces, University of Freiburg, Georges-Köhler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany. martin.koerner@imtek.uni-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Körner
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik - IMTEK, Chemistry and Physics of Interfaces, University of Freiburg, Georges-Köhler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany. prucker@imtek.de.
authors.forename: Oswald
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Prucker
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik - IMTEK, Chemistry and Physics of Interfaces, University of Freiburg, Georges-Köhler-Allee 103, 79110 Freiburg, Germany. ruehe@imtek.uni-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rühe
authors.affiliation: Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies, Leibniz University Hannover, Nienburger Straße 17, 0167 Hannover, Germany. sekretariat@hot.uni-hannover.de.|Institute for Measurement and Automatic Control, Leibniz University Hannover, Nienburger Straße 17, 30167 Hannover, Germany. sekretariat@hot.uni-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Eduard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reithmeier
authors.affiliation: Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies, Leibniz University Hannover, Nienburger Straße 17, 0167 Hannover, Germany. bernhard.roth@hot.uni-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roth
keywords: evanescent wave sensor; humidity sensor; planar systems; polymer optics; waveguides