Appl. Phys.
B 88, 297–303 (2007)
DOI: 10.1007/s00340-007-2717-4
vineet kumar rai Temperature sensors and optical sensors
Departamento de Fı́sica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brasil
Received: 17 February 2007/Final version: 31 May 2007
Published online: 6 July 2007 • © Springer-Verlag 2007
ABSTRACT The dependence of temperature on the fluorescence
lifetime and fluorescence intensity ratio using Stark sublevels
and thermally coupled (close lying) levels in triply ionized rare
earth ions, doped into a variety of glasses and fibers, have been
reviewed. Also, it is claimed that not only for the two closely ly-
ing levels of triply ionized rare earth ion of the same kind, but
also for two different triply ionized rare earth ions, having their
excited levels very close to each other, may be used to monitor
the temperature.
PACS 42.70.Ce
1 Introduction
Optical sensors are novel sensitive devices. Gen-
erally, optical sensors are based on monitoring the intensity
change in one or more light beams or changes in their phases
when they interact with the physical systems. The sensors
of this type are categorized as either intensity or interfero-
metric sensors. There are other optical techniques based on
light scattering, both Rayleigh and Raman scattering, spectral
transmission changes, radiative losses, reflectance changes
and magneto–optic or laser–Doppler methods etc.. Research
in the field of optical sensors has significant advantages com-
pared to conventional sensors in terms of their properties like
electrical passiveness, greater sensitivity, freedom from elec-
tromagnetic interference, wide dynamic range, both point and
distributed configurations and multiplexing capabilities. In
order to send and receive optical signals over long distances,
a network of sensors or sensor arrays is used. For optical
sensors it is not essential to make a conversion between elec-
tronics and photonics at each sensing point (site), thereby
increasing the flexibility and reducing the costs. There are,
however, some difficulties caused by the superposition of dif-
ferent effects which influence the unambiguous interpretation
of the signals.
Besides these optical sensors there are many other kinds
of sensors like capacitance temperature sensors, integrated
circuit (IC) sensors, diode temperature sensors (semicon-
ductor temperature sensor), resistance temperature detectors
u E-mail: vineetkrrai@yahoo.co.in; vineet@df.ufpe.br
Applied Physics B
Lasers and Optics
(RTDs), fiber–Bragg-grating temperature sensor, fiber optic
temperature sensors etc. [1–7].
The semiconductor (diode) temperature sensor is based
upon the temperature dependence of the forward voltage drop
across a p–n junction. These sensors are typically operated
with a constant current or by voltage measurements. The vari-
ation of the voltage with temperature depends on the materials
used in the p–n junction. These are e.g. silicon, gallium ar-
senide and gallium aluminum arsenide. The most important
feature is their interchangeability (because the function V(T)
follows the standard curve and there is no need for individual
calibration) and they may be used within the 5 – 500 K tem-
perature range [6].
In resistor temperature detectors (RTD) the resistance
changes with temperature. They can have a positive tem-
perature coefficient (PTC) {i.e. the electric resistance R(T)
increases with temperature and varies linearly with T }, or
a negative temperature coefficient (NTC) {i.e. the resis-
tance decreases with increasing T )} [6]. The capacitance
temperature sensors have potential for use in monitoring cryo-
genic and liquid nitrogen temperatures with relatively good
sensitivity [7].
Optical fiber sensors have been developed to measure
a wide variety of parameters, such as chemical changes,
strains, electric and magnetic fields, temperatures, pressure,
optical rotation, displacement, position etc.. Sensors based on
optical devices used for various measurements are explored
below in detail.
2 Sensor types
2.1 Chemical sensors
The optical chemical sensors mostly utilize flu-
orescence or absorption spectroscopic techniques. A fiber-
optic fluorometric technique has been used to perform the
chemical testing [1]. In this technique antigens specific for
antibodies to be detected are immobilized in the proximity
of a guided optical beam. The antibodies attached to fluo-
rophores are allowed to bond to the antigens.
The distributed chemical sensing may be used by con-
necting an optical fiber to the side of a plastic rod with an
appropriate polymer. For example, hydrogels (a network of
natural or synthetic polymer chains that are insoluble in water
and are superabsorbant i.e. they can absorb and retain ex-
tremely large amounts of a liquid relative to its own mass) can
298 Applied Physics B – Lasers and Optics
be dip coated (i.e. immersion of a substrate into a coating ma-
terial) onto a glass fiber-reinforced plastic rod. The swelling
(absorption of the solvent by the network) of the polymer
takes place in contact with water and because of this resultant
swelling there exists micro bending losses in the optical fiber,
which may be traced using an optical time domain reflectome-
ter (OTDR) [2].
2.2 Biomedical sensors
High resolution laser absorption spectroscopy to
study the state to state reaction dynamics of an atom +
polyatom system is used in different biomedical sensing ap-
plications including gastro-enterology through an endoscope
for making blood perfusion measurements in the stomach and
duodenum, dermatology for testing skin irritants, dentistry for
contact probes to measure blood flow during vascular recon-
struction. This was, for instance, used in differential scattering
dynamics of the reaction F + CH4 → HF(v, J). The high-
resolution infrared radiation profiles of HF(v, J) product,
exhibits extensive Doppler broadening that directly reflects
quantum state-resolved translational distributions in the lab-
oratory frame under single collision conditions [8]. The use of
high resolution laser sources to study the reaction dynamics is
twofold.
(a) The narrow linewidth (∆υ ∼ 0.0001 cm−1 ) allows prod-
uct state detection with full rovibrational quantum state
resolution with peak sensitivities, that permit operation at
sufficiently low densities to maintain single collision con-
ditions.
(b) The product velocity resolution is sufficient to observe
Doppler-broadened line shapes due to the translational en-
ergy of the product, and thereby to elucidate correlations
between the internal quantum state (i.e. rotation and vibra-
tion) and recoil away from the transition state.
It is also used for detecting the blood perfusion in tissues
during and after surgery [9]. A very common use of optical
sensors in gastroenterology is based on spectroscopic tech-
niques using optical fibers. Light from blue and green light-
emitting diodes is transmitted through the fiber to a small
cavity between the fiber end and a retro reflector. Any li-
quids, such as water, diet tea, etc. are detected by analyzing the
relative spectral response. Heavy metal doped fibers of short
lengths are used in monitoring radiation treatment for oncol-
ogy patients. The treatment of tumors by hyperthermia (is an
acute stage/condition which occurs when the body produces
or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate) is based on tem-
perature determination during microwave or radio frequency
irradiation. There are many optical sensors that have been
developed, which are based on mid-IR pyrometry and Fabry–
Pérot interferometers [9].
2.3 Electric and magnetic field based sensors
Optical fiber sensors are used for measurements
of electric and magnetic fields and electrical current due to
their inherently dielectric nature. All electric and magnetic
field sensors based upon fiber optics are hybrid devices; i.e.
the fiber is attached to some other material and is used to
detect any changes caused in that material by electric and
magnetic fields. The fiber is used to sense the dimensional
changes of a piezoelectric or piezomagnetic material in the
presence of electric and magnetic fields [10–15]. The details
of the electric and magnetic field sensors are described else-
where [11–15]. To study the temperature in magnetic field en-
vironments, temperature sensors based on resistance or cap-
acitance measurements are mainly used [6, 7]. For example
ruthenium oxides are well suited for temperature measure-
ments below 1 K. The external fields can influence the signal
and can impede the calibration. Therefore germanium sen-
sors are of little use in magnetic fields because of their large
magneto-resistance [6].
2.4 Temperature sensors
Temperature sensor constitutes the vast class of
commercially available optical sensors. There are many dif-
ferent phenomena used to perform the sensing. The main
physical techniques involved are Fabry–Pérot interferometers
to measure optical path length changes in a material, remote
pyrometry/black body radiation monitoring, Raman scatter-
ing and rare earth absorption/fluorescence monitoring. There
are two types of temperature sensor, (1) distributed, and (2)
point temperature sensors. In distributed temperature sensing,
one uses a pulsed Nd:YAG laser to excite Raman scattering,
which is detected by an optical time domain reflectometer
(OTDR) where up to ∼ 30 km of path length can be realized.
There has been extensive interest in the study of rare earth
doped materials for use as temperature sensors. In these ma-
terials many pairs of energy levels with small separations of
the order of the thermal energy are known. For practical sen-
sors, the energy levels are not only optically coupled to the
ground state but also have a relatively small separation with
a high probability of non-radiative transitions between the two
levels of the pair. A large number of rare earth ions such as Pr,
Nd, Sm, Eu, Ho, Er and Yb have pairs of energy levels which
satisfy these criterions. The principle of the sensor is based
on the temperature dependent variation of light transmission
which is at first measured at the reference temperature over
the wavelength range of interest and then recorded at differ-
ent temperatures. There are some spectral regions where the
absorption spectra decrease as the temperature increases due
to the broadening of the absorbing transitions and their shift
to longer wavelengths with rising temperature. For accurate
temperature detection the system should be designed for dual
wavelength operation because then it would be easy to meas-
ure the ratio of the signal intensities at the two wavelengths as
a function of temperature.
It is very important to note that with the proper choice of
λ1 and λ2 , for all systems studied so far, the fiber attenuation
changed linearly with temperature over the temperature range
of interest. The linear dependence is an essential specifica-
tion of a distributed fiber sensor to be used for detecting an
average temperature. Also the fluorescence yield and the life-
time of the two closely lying levels from which fluorescence
to a common lower level occur, can be monitored at differ-
ent temperatures. Temperature sensing based on fluorescence
lifetimes has been investigated by several workers [16–20].
Here pulsed excitation is essential and the temperature depen-
RAI Temperature sensors and optical sensors 299

ably well understood and thus it is easier to predict their

behavior.
Hence, any change in total population due to a change in
excitation power will affect the population of the individual
level to the same extent. For relatively closely spaced energy
levels the fluorescence wavelengths are close, which reduces
FIGURE 1 Energy level scheme for the temperature sensing technique any wavelength dependent effects caused by the fiber bends.
The rate at which the ratio R changes with temperature is
dent fluorescence decay curves from the two upper excited 1 d R ∆E ij
levels are detected with a single detector associated with suit- S= = . (4)
R dT kT 2
able electronics (boxcar averager or computer).
Assuming the rate of relaxation between the two upper ex- From (4) it is clear that having pairs of energy levels with
cited levels i and j due to the rapid thermalization is very large larger energy differences increases the sensitivity. However,
compared with the spontaneous lifetimes of these levels, the as the energy difference becomes larger, the population and
average fluorescence lifetime may be given as, hence the intensity from the upper of the two thermalizing lev-
els will decrease and create problems in measuring very low
⎛ ∆E ij ⎞
g light levels.
1 + gji e− κT
τ =⎝ ⎠, (1) There are a large number of materials having pairs of en-
gj − ∆E ij ergy levels thermally coupled with each other which therefore
Ai0 + A j0 gi e κT
can be used with the FIR method of temperature sensing.
where Ai0 , A j0 are the spontaneous transition probabilities There are other factors that limit the suitability of materials,
for transitions from the two levels i and j to the ground state namely costs and availability, the temperature range for which
(Fig. 1), ∆E ij = energy separation between the two levels, gi the material can be used and the fluorescence yield of the par-
and g j are their respective degeneracies, ‘0’ is the lower level, ticular level of interest. Triply ionized rare earth ions have
k = Boltzmann’s constant and T = Kelvin temperature. been found to obey all these above mentioned requirements,
The sensitivity of temperature determination from meas- while, for example the R-lines of Ruby emitted from a level
urements of the fluorescence lifetime τ can be obtained from pair with an energy difference ∼ 29 cm−1 show at room tem-
(1) as, perature a relatively small FIR temperature sensitivity com-
⎛ ⎞⎛ ⎞ pared to the rare earth ions.
A
1 ∂τ 1 1 − Aj0 For temperature sensors, the energy levels will not only
Ss = = ⎝1 − ⎠⎝ i0 ⎠ have to be thermally coupled but also should satisfy other con-
τ ∂T gj − ∆E ij A j0 gj − ∆E ij
1 + g e κT 1 + A g e κT ditions that depend largely on the host matrix into which the
i i0 i
∆E ij active ions are doped. The factors affecting the energy levels
× . (2) of the rare earth ions are:
kT 2
1. The separation between the energy levels must be more
The fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) technique, being the than ∼ 200 cm−1 to avoid strong overlapping of the two
main subject of this article, involves utilizing the fluorescence fluorescence wavelengths.
intensities from to two closely spaced energy levels to monitor 2. The energy level separation should be <2000 cm−1 (i.e.
the temperature. In this technique the fluorescence intensities the separation should not be too large) otherwise the upper
from these levels to a common final (lower) level is monitored level would have too small a population for the tempera-
at the desired wavelength. The temperature dependent ratio of ture range of interest.
these intensities is independent of the source intensity since 3. In order to have sufficient fluorescence intensity from the
the emitted intensities are proportional to the population of upper level pair the radiative transitions must dominate the
each energy level involved. Therefore, the fluorescence inten- non- radiative transitions. The non-radiative transition rate
sity ratio R from two thermally coupled energy levels may be decreases with the increase of the energy gap to the next
given as, lower energy levels.
g j σ j0 υ j0 − ∆Eij A detailed survey of the literature indicates that there are only
R= e kT
gi σi0 υi0 a few rare earth ions with a pair of energy levels that fulfill all
∆E ij the above criteria and therefore can be used for sensitive tem-
= Be− κT (3) perature measurements. There are many methods that can be
gj σj0 υ j0 used to measure the FIR of a specific sample. For cooling and
where B = and all the terms have their usual mean-
gi σi0 υi0 heating of the rare earth doped sample, the sample to be tested
ings [20]. is taken in an appropriate holder and its temperature is de-
The use of thermally coupled levels over the use of two tected independently using a thermocouple or a similar device
non-coupled levels has several advantages. in close proximity to the sample.
(i) The population of the individual thermally coupled levels
is directly proportional to the total population. Pr3+ doped host matrix as temperature sensor. Triply ionized
(ii) The theory of relative changes in the fluorescence intensity praseodymium doped into a variety of hosts with two lev-
coming from the two thermally coupled levels is reason- els ( 3P1 and 3P0 ) separated by ∼ 600 cm−1 has been used as
300 Applied Physics B – Lasers and Optics
gain medium for laser oscillators and amplifiers [21–23]. The
FIR versus temperature characteristics has been monitored in
Pr3+ doped in bulk ZBLANP, silica fiber and aluminum silica
fiber by Wade et al. [24–26]. The fluorescence from the ther-
mally coupled levels terminates at both the 3H5 and 1G 4 lev-
els. This material has been studied in the temperature ranges
20 – 145 ◦ C and 22 – 250 ◦ C respectively using the 466 nm and
488 nm lines from an Ar+ laser [19, 21]. The authors observed
the increase of the fluorescence intensity from the 3 P1 level
while the fluorescence intensity of the bands arising from the
3
P0 decreases with increasing temperature. These changes in
the fluorescence intensities are due to the thermalization be-
tween the two close lying ( 3P1 and 3 P0 ) levels. It is very
important to note that for each fluorescence test the size of the
sample as well as the settings of the optical spectrum analyzer
must be adjusted in such a way that one can obtain the max-
imum signal to noise ratio. We also performed similar studies
on Pr3+ doped tellurite glass and monitored the fluorescence
intensities of the two bands due to the transitions arising from
the two closely lying ( 3P1 and 3 P0 ) levels to a common lower
3
H5 level at different temperatures between the 273 – 453 K re-
gion using 476.5 nm radiation from a 10 W Ar+ laser [27, 28].
The lifetime of the 3 P0 level is found to decrease with increas-
ing temperature. It is concluded that the present system can be
used to sense the temperature over a wide range with a sensi-
tivity of 1.02%/K.
Nd3+ doped host matrix as temperature sensor. Nd3+ has
two close levels ( 4F3/2 and 4F5/2 ) with an energy separation
∼ 1000 cm−1 [29, 30]. The fluorescence spectra of Nd3+ ions
doped in ZBLANP, YVO4 , YAG and silica fiber hosts have
been recorded for fluorescence transitions from the 4F3/2 and
4
F5/2 levels ending at several lower levels ( 4I9/2,11/2,13/2 ). For
the FIR techniques only two fluorescence bands due to the
4
F3/2 → 4I9/2 and 4F5/2 → 4I9/2 transitions are important.
The fluorescence bands originating from the upper thermally
coupled levels was overlapped by the fluorescence arising
from the lower energy level ending at the next lower energy
terminal level (as the fluorescence due to the 4F3/2 → 4I9/2
transition overlaps with the fluorescence due to the 4F5/2 →
4
I11/2 transition). To avoid this problem different excitation
wavelengths (∼ 748 nm for YAG and ∼ 757 nm for YVO4 )
have been employed in order to get the maximum fluores-
cence intensity. It has been found that the amount of overlap
is reduced in the YAG sample compared to the oxide type
hosts [31].
Sm3+ , Eu3+ and Sm3+ /Tb3+ : Eu3+ as temperature sen-
sor. There are two closely lying levels 4F3/2 ; 4G 5/2 (in
triply ionized samarium) and 5D1 ; 5D0 (in triply ionized eu-
ropium) with separations of the order of ∼ 1000 cm−1 and
∼ 1700 cm−1 respectively. The temperature sensing behav-
ior using these rare earth ions doped into a variety of host
matrices has been investigated by several workers [32–35].
The temperature sensing behavior using the FIR technique has
been previously reported by Kusama et al. [36] for Y2 OS:Eu
phosphor with a temperature uncertainty of 10 – 15 ◦ C in the
range −173 to 27 ◦ C. A temperature sensor using the fluores-
cence from europium doped lanthanum and gadolinium oxy-
sulphide phosphors in the temperature range −100 to 290 ◦ C
with an uncertainty of ±0.1 ◦ C has been reported [37, 38].
Also the effect of temperature on the fluorescence intensity
from the 5D1 and 5D0 levels in Eu3+ doped optical fiber of
1.84 m in length with 465 nm line as an excitation source
has been investigated [39]. Recently, we made similar studies
on Eu3+ doped tellurite/calibo glass within the temperature
range of 300 – 500 K with a sensitivity of 2.75%/K. The en-
ergy separation between the two close lying ( 5D1 and 5D0 )
levels is ∼ 1725 cm−1 [40]. Thus it is clear that the study
based on this rare earth ion is associated with the largest en-
ergy gap investigated so far. At lower temperatures (≤ 343 K)
the intensity of both peaks (i.e. due to 5D1 → 7F1 and 5D1
transitions) is reduced but beyond this limit the intensity of
the peak corresponding to the 5D1 → 7F1 transition increases
with temperature whereas the peak due to the 5D0 → 7F1
transition continues to decrease. The change in the intensities
of the bands is due to the effect of “decoupling” of the 5D1
and 5D0 levels at lower temperature and this is similar to the
case where there would be a reasonable overlapping of the flu-
orescence peaks from the two levels. It appears that overall the
rate of relaxation of the 5D1 level is smaller than the rate of
relaxation of the 5D0 level with temperature. It is also smaller
than the rate of population of the 5D1 level by thermalization
and by the laser pumping. The details of these experiments
are reported elsewhere [40]. Also, it has been reported that
the two rare earths Sm3+ /Tb3+ :Eu3+ doped simultaneously
with their excited energy levels very close to each other, may
be used to predict the temperature [41, 42]. The enhancement
in the energy transfer probability caused by the multipolar
interaction from Sm3+ to Eu3+ is observed with increasing
temperature [41].
Er3+ as temperature sensors. Triply ionized erbium doped
into a variety of host matrices has two different sets of ther-
mally coupled ( 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 ) energy levels separated by
the energy gap ∼ 800 cm−1 [43, 44]. Bethou and Jorgensen
have first reported the FIR technique with thermally coupled
2
H11/2 and 4S3/2 levels of Er3+ doped in fluoride hosts using
either 488 nm or 970 nm excitation over the 20 – 200 ◦ C tem-
perature region. There have been intensive studies on the FIR
method using Er3+ ion doped in silica fiber [44–46] with
temperatures up to 640 ◦ C. Thus by using silica as the host
material a relatively wide temperature range can be covered
but it shows relatively low fluorescence efficiency. The re-
search groups in Brazil have tried to improve the fluorescence
efficiencies of Er3+ doped sensor material using different
host matrices [47, 48]. The temperature sensing behavior of
Er3+ doped into different host matrices viz. fluoroindates and
chalcogenides using different excitation wavelengths such as
1.06, 1.48 and 1.54 µm at powers of the order of milliwatts
have been studied over a wide temperature range 200 – 300 ◦ C.
Zhang et al. [49] studied the temperature dependence of the
FIR in Er3+ doped silica fiber within the temperature range of
0 – 1100 ◦ C with an uncertainty of the measurement of ±5 ◦ C
in temperature.
The fluorescence intensity ratio measurements using Stark
sublevels of 4I13/2 manifold of Er3+ have been studied within
the temperature range region of 12 – 180 ◦ C having a reso-
lution of ∼ 0.36 ◦ C [50, 51]. The temperature sensing be-
havior using thermally coupled levels ( 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 ) in
RAI Temperature sensors and optical sensors 301

FIGURE 2 Comparison of the suitabil-

ity of FL and FIR methods with scaled
dimensional temperature parameters

Sensing materials doped Technique Sensitivity Temperature Reference

with rare earths at 293 K range (K)

3 P , 3 P → 3 H (FIR)
Pr3+ (ZBLANP) 1 0 5 0.71%/K 293–418 [39]
Nd3+ (YAG) 5/2 → I9/2 (FIR)
4F , 4F 4 1.43%/K 299–523 [39]
3/2
Nd3+ (ZBLANP) 4F , 4F
3/2 5/2 → 4I
9/2 (FIR) 1.15%/K 296–473 [39]
Sm3+ (silica) 5/2 → H5/2 (FIR)
4 F , 4G 6 1.84%/K 295–748 [39]
3/2
Eu3+ (silica) 5 D , 5 D → 7 F (FIR) 1.85%/K 293–673 [39]
0 1 1
Pr3+ (silica) 3 P , 3 P → 1G (FIR) 0.48%/K 293–420 [58]
1 0 4
Pr3+ (tellurite) 3 P , 3 P → 3 H (FIR) 1.02%/K 273–453 [27, 28]
1 0 5
(FL) 8.79 × 10−3 %/K [20]
Er3+ (tellurite) Z 1 , Z 2 → 4I15/2 ( 4S3/2 → 4I15/2 ) (FIR) 0.49%/K 300–550 [54]
Eu3+ (calibo/tellurite) 5 D , 5 D → 7 F (FIR) 2.75%/K 298–500 [40]
0 1 1
Eu3+ (calibo) (FL) 0.014%/K [55, 56]
Er3+ (BiLiBaPb) 11/2 , S3/2 → I15/2 (FIR)
2H 4 4 1.22%/K 295–428 [53]
3/2 → I15/2
4S 4
(Stark Component: FIR) 0.44%/K 296–603 [53]
Sm3+ :Eu3+ :calibo 5/2 → H5/2 ; D0 → F2 (FIR)
4G 6 5 7 0.97%/K 273–373 [41]
Sm3+ :calibo 5/2 → H5/2
4 F , 4G 6 1.97%/K 373–600 [32–34]
3/2
Resistance Fiber Bragg Thermocouple/ Integrated Capacitance
temperature grating thermistor circuit (IC) temperature sensor
detector (RTD) temperature sensor (−270–1800 ◦ C)/ temperature sensor (cryogenic/liquid
◦
(−200–850 C) [6] (77–300 K) [5] (−100–500 ◦ C) [6] (−55–150 ◦ C) [6] nitrogen temperature) [7]
Sensitivity 0.30%/◦ C 39 pm/K at 77 K 40 V/◦ C; 4%/◦ C 10 mV/◦ C 0.01 at 2.2 K
and 0.001 at 1 K

TABLE 1 Comparison of the sensitivity at 293 K for several materials used in temperature sensing

Er3+ doped into tellurite as well as bismuth and tellurite (ter-
tiary/binary) glass has been reported over a wide range of tem-
peratures with its unique sensitivity [52, 53]. For the first time,
the temperature sensing behavior of the Stark components of
the 4S3/2 level in Er3+ doped bismuth (tertiary) and tellurite
(binary) glass using ∼ 800 nm radiation from a Ti:sapphire
laser has been studied [53, 54]. It was concluded that not only
the two thermally coupled levels,but also the Stark sublevels
of a level very close to each other, can be used to measure the
temperature with an enhanced temperature range.
A plot of the FIR/FL versus scaled temperature is shown
in Fig. 2. where the dimensionless temperature parameter t =
kT /∆E is plotted.
Table 1 lists the details of the FIR/FL with their sensi-
tivities, and the temperature ranges studied for different rare
earth ions, doped into a variety of host matrices at room
temperature.
3 Conclusions
A detailed survey of studies based on temperature
sensing has been given. It is emphasised, that many factors
have to be taken into consideration in any practical compar-
ison of the responses, including the spectroscopic details of
the dopant ion, the levels of particular ions involved and the
technical issues associated with developing a sensitive sen-
302 Applied Physics B – Lasers and Optics
sor. The signal to noise ratio achieved is strongly associated
with many factors such as the source used for excitation, its
wavelengths, the detection sensitivity etc.. As the population
of the individual thermally coupled levels is directly propor-
tional to the total population, changes in the total population
of the levels involved due to changes in the excitation power
will affect the individual levels to the same extent. This re-
duces the dependence of the measurement technique on the
excitation intensity which is one of the important factors for
the suitability of such a sensor. Thus use of the relatively close
energy levels helps to reduce any wavelength dependent ef-
fects during the measurement. When using pulsed excitation
sources thermodynamic equilibrium can not be maintained,
except if the lifetime of the excited state is large compared to
the time duration of the excitation process. At higher tempera-
tures (T > 700 K) the black body radiation presents a problem
for the intensity ratio method. Its effect is less severe if the
emission wavelength is short (λ < 800 nm).
In the case of Pr3+ , Nd3+ , Er3+ , and Sm3+ : Eu3+ doped
host matrices (∆E ≤ 900 cm−1 ) thermal equilibrium can be
assumed because the population of the thermally coupled
levels follows a Boltzmann distribution. Beyond this limit
changes in the intensities of the bands are due to the effect of
“coupling/decoupling” at higher or lower temperatures.
As in the case of the Eu3+ doped host matrix, the 5D1
and 5D0 levels (∆E ∼ 1725 cm−1 ) are ‘thermally decoupled’
at lower temperatures but the thermalization between them
takes place at higher temperatures, and therefore these two
levels can be used to measure the temperature within a wide
range with an appreciable sensitivity. However, in the case
of Sm3+ /Tb3+ :Eu3+ doped host matrix it is found that the
energy transfer probability (from Sm3+ /Tb3+ to Eu3+ in the
codoped case) increases with increasing temperature. Further-
more, the two rare earth ions Sm3+ /Tb3+ and Eu3+ doped,
simultaneously have excited energy levels with small energy
separations, and can be therefore used to monitor the tempera-
ture of the system [41, 42]. In the case of Er3+ doped lattice
it is also found that the Stark components of a level may be
used for sensing purposes. In the materials studied for fluores-
cence lifetimes where the lifetime of the upper level is larger
than the lifetime of the lower level the sensitivity is higher
than for levels with smaller relaxation times. Furthermore, an
experimental validation between the techniques based on the
fluorescence intensity ratio and the lifetime showed that both
techniques are suitable, but the fluorescence intensity ratio
is better for monitoring the temperature over a wide range
of temperatures [20, 55–57]. The sensitivity is found to de-
crease slowly with increasing temperature. The sensitivity is
not only related to the lifetime ratio (or intensity ratio) but also
to the energy gap between the two levels. Errors in the meas-
ured temperature can be estimated from the standard deviation
using (4) as,
kT 2 (∆FIR)
∆T = . 32 Vineet Kumar Rai, C.B. de Araujo, Spectrochim. Acta A (2007), in press
∆E(FIR)
Also, along with all the above requirements to cover a large
range of temperatures, the mechanical strength, chemical
durability and the glass transition temperature of the glass
should be high. Thus on these assumptions, it may be con-
cluded that the fluorescence intensity ratio is suitable for sens-
ing purposes over a wider range of temperatures than that for
the fluorescence lifetime technique.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author is grateful to the Con-
selho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Brazil
for financial assistance.
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