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Fiber-optic evanescent field

absorption sensor: A theoretical
evaluation
a a
B. D. Gupta & C. D. Singh
a
Department of Physics , Indian Institute of Technology , New
Delhi, India
Published online: 13 Sep 2006.

To cite this article: B. D. Gupta & C. D. Singh (1994) Fiber-optic evanescent field absorption
sensor: A theoretical evaluation, Fiber and Integrated Optics, 13:4, 433-443, DOI:
10.1080/01468039408202251

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Fiber-optic Evanescent Field Absorption

Sensor: A Theoretical Evaluation
B. D. GUPTA AND C. D. SINGH
Department of Physics
Indian Institute of Technology
New Delhi, India

A comparative study of the fiber-optic evanescent field absorption sensors based on

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parabolic, linear, and exponential-linear taper profiles has been carried out. m e
expressionsfor the effective evanescent absorption coefficient of the fluid have been
derived for a difise source as well as a collimated source-microscope objective
combination. It has been shown that the sensitivity of the sensor depends on the
taperprofile and the type of the source used in addition to the numerical aperture of
the fiber and the refractive index of the fluid. For a given taper profile, the sensitivity
is more in the case of the collimated source-microscope objective combination as
compared to the diffuse source illumination. Further, the sensor with the exponen-
tial-linear taper profile is more sensitive than those hauing parabolic and linear
profiles in the case of both sources.

Keywords absorption, evanescent field, light sources, optical fiber, sensor,

taper, taper profile.

Evanescent wave fiber-optic absorption sensors have received considerable atten-

tion over the past few years [l-91 because they have widespread applications in the
continuous monitoring of concentrations of reactants in chemical transformations
and in the study of the absorption spectra of liquids and pastes. Moreover, these
sensors can be used in the chemical industry for distributed sensing as well as for
sensing at isolated locations.
The absorption of the evanescent field by the fluid surrounding the core of the
optical fiber transmitting the light is the basis of the evanescent field absorption
sensor. Much of the work to date with optical fibers has used plastic-clad silica
(PCS) fiber. The silicone cladding is removed from the middle portion of the fiber
and is replaced by an absorbing fluid. The light is launched into one of the ends of
the fiber and is detected at the other end. The presence of the fluid and its
concentration are determined by observing the change in the transmitted power.
The normalized power transmitted depends on the absorption of the evanescent
field by the fluid. In the case of a uniform core, the evanescent field is very weak
and therefore the absorption, and hence the sensitivity, of the sensor is small. To

Received 21 October 1993; accepted 14 February 1994.

The authors are grateful to Professor A. K. Ghatak for constant encouragement. The
present work is partially supported by a collaborative project on Fiber Optics supported by
O.D.A., United Kingdom, through the British Council Division, India. C. D. Singh is
thankful to University Grants Commission, India, for financial support.
Address correspondence to B. D. Gupta, Indian Institute of Technology, Department of
Physics, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India.

433
 434 B. D.Gupta and C.D.Sin@

increase the sensitivity, tapering of the core in the sensing region has been
suggested [3, 7-11]. In fact, experimental studies have reported a seven- to tenfold
increase in the sensitivity of the sensor if the sensing region is tapered [7, 91.
In this paper we consider an evanescent field absorption sensor based on a
multimode optical fiber. The effects of the geometry of the sensing region, the type
of light source, and the numerical aperture of the fiber on the maximum sensitivity
of the sensor have been studied theoretically.

Theory

Effective Evanescent Absorption Coeficient

Consider a step-index multimode optical fiber whose cladding has been replaced
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locally by an absorbing fluid. If P(0) is the power transmitted by the fiber in the
absence of an absorbing fluid, then the power transmitted along the fiber at a
distance z in the presence of the fluid is given by [12]

where y is the evanescent absorption coefficient of the fluid and can be written as
[I21
y=NT (2)

where N is the number of ray reflections per unit length of the fiber and T is the
Fresnel transmission coefficient of the light at the interface of a lossless core and
lossy cladding. For the fiber of core radius p surrounded by a fluid with n 2 - ik as
the refractive index, these parameters are given by [13]

N = cot 9/2p (3)

and
n21A cos 0
T= (4)
(sin2 e - n:,) 1/2

where

6 is the angle of the ray with respect to the normal to the interface; and
LY = 47rk/A is the bulk absorption coefficient of the fluid at wavelength A of the
light source used, n21= n2/n1,where n1 and n2 are the refractive indices of the
core and the absorbing fluid, respectively. Substitution of Eqs. (3) and (4) in Eq. (2)
gives
 Evanescent Wave Absorption Sensors 435

For rays with the angles in the range el < 8 < 8, launched in the sensing region,
the effective evanescent absorption coefficient is given by

where p ( 8 ) represents the power distribution of the rays.

Power Distribution of Rays

We consider the following two kinds of sources for launching the light in the
optical fiber sensors:
(i) diffuse or Lambertian source,
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(ii) collimated source with an objective for focusing.

For diffuse source illumination we assume that the source (such as a light-
emitting diode (LED)) is butted against the fiber end face and its surface covers at
least some of the core cross section. In such a situation only the portion of the
source within the core cross section can excite bound rays, and we can ignore the
source outside this region. The power distribution for the diffuse source illumina-
tion is given by [ l l , 121
p ( e ) a n;sin e cos e
If the light is launched into the fiber from a collimated source (such as a laser)
using a microscope objective such that the beam is focused onto the fiber end face
at the axial point, then [lo, 121
$sin e cos e
p(e)a 2
(1 - n:cos2 e )
In thi!; case the numerical aperture of the illuminated portion of the objective
chosen is more than that of the fiber so that all the bound rays can be excited in
the fiber.

Geometry of the Sensing Region

Case I. Uniform Core. Using the two preceding equations with Eqs. ( 5 ) and (6) gives
us the following expressions for the effective evanescent absorption coefficient in
the case of a uniform core-sensing region [lo, 111

and
A[ 1 - nf(cos2 el + COS, e,) + nfcos2 el COS, e,]
y U ( e l ,&)lCoiiimated =
~ ( C OelS-~ COS, e,)
 436 B. D. Gupta and C. D. Singh

where

q = nl,sin 8
and

If all the bound rays in the fiber are allowed to propagate in the sensing region,
then 8, = sin-'(n,,/n,) and 8, = 90", where Itcl is the refractive index of the
cladding of the fiber used for the sensor. Obviously, the refractive index of the
absorbing fluid should be smaller than that of the fiber cladding ( n , < ncl);
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otherwise there will be a loss of power even if there is no absorption.

Case II. Nonuniform Core in the Sensing Region (Tapered). Let us consider the
propagation of a guided ray launched in the fiber through the taper as shown in
Figure l a . If 8, is the angle that this ray makes with the fiber axis, then it will get
transformed to an angle 8,(z> inside the taper through the following relation [141

p(z)sin 8,(z) = pisin 8, (9)

where pi, po, and p ( z ) are taper radii at the input, at the output, and at a distance
z from the input end of the taper, respectively. In terms of the angles defined with
respect to the normal at the interface, Eq. (9) becomes

+(z) = C O S - ~pi^^^
[ e/p(z)i - R (10)

where 8 ( = 90" - Oi)is the angle between the ray and the normal to the interface
in fiber; + ( z ) is the corresponding angle in the taper at a distance z , and R is the
taper angle. In the case of the taper Eq. (6) modifies to

where L is the length of the taper and

Substituting p ( 8 ) and y ( 8 , z ) in Eq. (11) gives

 Evanescent Wave Absorption Sensors 437

(b) TAPER REGION PROFILE (a)

I I

"cl ,
I
"2 ,
I
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EXP - LINEAR

I
fo -

Figure 1. ( a ) Geometry of a taper. ( 6 )Taper profiles.

and

The integrals in Eqs. (8), (12), and (13) cannot be evaluated analytically. We have
evaluated them numerically to obtain the value of y.
It can he seen from Eq. (10) that + ( z ) depends on p ( z ) for a given value of 8.
If p ( z ) decreases, 4(z> also decreases. For an evanescent wave absorption sensor
all the rays launched at the input end of the taper should continue to be totally
internally reflected throughout the length of the taper. This means that the
following condition must be satisfied within the taper
 438 B. D. Gupta and C. D. Singh

Thus, for given values of n2, L, and O,, there is a lower limit for the value of po. If
the taper angle is small so that it can be neglected [lo, 151 in Eq. (101, then the
minimum value of po is

For calculations of yT we consider three types of tapers. These are parabolic,

linear, and exponential-linear tapers. The respective variations of the taper radius
p ( z ) in these three cases can be written as
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In Figure 16 we have shown these variations.

Sensitivity
Evanescent wave absorption sensors are typically used to monitor the concentra-
tion of an absorbing substance in a nonabsorbing solvent. The sensitivity of these
sensors is defined as
s = 1 dP (19)
P dc
where c is the concentration of the absorbing substance in the fluid and P is the
power transmitted by the fiber. Substituting Eq. (1) in Eq. (19) gives
dy
S=L- (20)
dc
The evanescent absorption coefficient y is related to a through the relation
y = a p (see Eq. (5)), where p is a quantity that depends on the design of the
sensor and the refractive index n2 of the fluid. Further, the bulk absorption
coefficient a is directly proportional to the concentration c. The proportionality
constant ( E ) depends on the substance. Thus Eq. (20) becomes

(
S = L E p+c-
2) (21)

If the refractive index of the absorbing fluid does not vary significantly with the
concentration (c) of the fluid within the required concentration range, then one
can substitute d p / d c = 0 in Eq. (20). In that case
Y
s = LEP = LE-
a
(22)
 Evanescent WaveAbsoption Sensors 439

This implies that the sensitivity of an evanescent wave absorption sensor is directly
proportional to y / a .

Numerical Results and Discussion

To study the effects of the type of source used and the geometry of the sensing
region on the sensitivity of the evanescent wave absorption sensor, we calculate
y / a for two different numerical apertures (NA) of the fiber. We choose plastic-clad
silica (PCS) fibers ( p = 300 pm) of numerical apertures 0.2 and 0.4. For n1 = 1.457
and NA = 0.2 we obtain n,, = 1.443 and 8, = 82". For NA = 0.4, n,, = 1.401 and
8, = 74". As mentioned above 8, is equal to 90" for both fibers. Moreover, we
choose A = 664 nm. This corresponds to the peak evanescent absorbance of
methylene blue dye, which has generally been used for experiments in the litera-
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ture [3, 6, 91.

Case I. Uniform Core

The value of y U / a for a diffuse source illumination is calculated from Eq. (7). Its
variations with the refractive index of the absorbing fluid ( n , ) for NA = 0.2 and 0.4
are shown in Figure 2 (dotted curves). For calculation purposes, the lowest value
of n2 chosen is 1.335, which corresponds to the refractive index of water. The
figure shows that as the value of n2 increases the value of y u / a also increases.
Further, it shows that an increase in NA increases the value of y v / a . This implies
that the increase in the numerical aperture increases the sensitivity of the sensor in
the case of a diffuse source illumination. To see the effect of the source on the
sensitivity, we have carried out similar calculations for a collimated source-

1
UNIFORM
!

0 Ll
1.33 5
0.2
0.2
1

1.345
1 I

1.355
I

"2
I
1.3 6 5
I I
1.375
I
1.3 85

Figure 2. Variation of y / a as a function of n2 for a sensor based on a uniform core-sensing

region. The dotted curves correspond to the illumination with a diffuse source while the
continuous curves correspond to illumination with a collimated source-microscope objective
combination. The curves have been plotted for NA = 0.2 and 0.4.
 440 B. D. Gupta and C. D. Singh

microscope objective combination (Eq. (8)). These results are also shown in Fig-
ure 2 (continuous curves). It can be seen that the variations in both cases are
nearly the same, except that the values of y u / a in the case of the collimated
source are slightly higher than those in the case of the diffuse source. For example,
for n2 = 1.335 and NA = 0.2, y u / a = 3.30 X in the case of the diffuse
source while its value in the case of the collimated source is 3.55 X This
means that the sensor having a collimated source and an objective for illumination
is more sensitive than the one using a diffuse source.

Case II. Tapered Core

If a ray is launched at the input end of the taper, then its angle with respect to the
normal at the interface decreases as it propagates through the taper (see Eq. (10)).
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For the ray to remain confined within the taper, its angle at any point along the
taper must be greater than the critical angle of the sensing region. This sets a lower
limit on the value of po (Eq. (15)). The minimum allowed value of po gives the
maximum achievable sensitivity. This is because the tapering increases the penetra-
tion depth of the field in the fluid and also the number of reflections within the
taper. This results in an increase in the evanescent absorption. Since y T / a and,
hence, the sensitivity depend on p,, we calculate only the maximum achievable
sensitivity of the sensor. For this, first we choose the value of n2 and then calculate
the minimum value of po from Eq. (15) for NA = 0.2 and 0.4, respectively. After
this, we determine y T / a for a given taper profile from Eqs. (12) and (13) for
diffuse and collimated sources, respectively. Now we change n 2 and repeat the
procedure. The results obtained for different taper profiles or geometries are as
follow.
(i> Parabolic Taper. The variation of y T / a calculated for the diffuse source
and the parabolic taper profile (Eq. (16)) for different values of n2 are shown in
Figure 3 for two different numerical apertures of the fiber (dotted curves). Similar
to the uniform core, y , / a increases as n 2 increases. For a given NA of the fiber,

03-- --- -- __---

--- _____---
4.0 --- _ _ - c

___ ---- --_0,2 _ _ _ _ _ _ __-

--------------

3.0 I I I I I I I I 1 J
 Evanescent Wai'eAbsorption Sensors 441

LINEAR TAPER

7.0-

NA = 0.2
6.0:
I

5.0.'
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ - ---0.2 ____ ___--
-----=
/_---

--- __-----
___-
Downloaded by [University of Glasgow] at 22:27 04 January 2015

0.4
___-
___---
4.0 I I I I I I I I
1.335 I 1.345 1.355 1365 1.375 1.385

Figure 4. Same as Figure 2 except that the sensing region is a linear taper.

the value of y / a in the case of the tapered sensing region is much larger than that
in the case of the uniform core fiber. If NA increases, y T / a increases for at least
t z 2 2 1.335. In the same figure we show the variations for a collimated source
illumination (continuous curves). It can be seen that the value of y T / a is higher in
the case of a collimated source than that in the case of a diffuse source for a given
value of n?. This is true for both numerical apertures of the fiber. Thus, for a
parabolic taper the fiber of high NA should be used for an evanescent wave
absorption sensor.
(ii) Linear Taper. The linear taper profile is given by Eq. (17). For this profile
the variations of y T / a for diffuse and collimated sources are shown in Figure 4.
As in'Figures 2 and 3, the dotted curves correspond to the diffuse source while the
continuous curves correspond to the collimated source. It can be seen that for
some range of n 2 , the sensor with a fiber of NA = 0.2 is more sensitive than that
with NA = 0.4. In the case of the diffuse source, the sensor based on a fiber with
NA = 0.2 and maximum allowed tapering is more sensitive than that with NA = 0.4
provided n2 < 1.3625. For n2 > 1.3625 the case is reversed. The crossover value of
n2 for the collimated source is about 1.3675, which is slightly higher than that for
the diffuse source. Thus, if the tapered fiber sensor is to be operated for the single
refractive index of the fluid, then which numerical aperture fiber should be used to
achieve high sensitivity depends on the refractive index of the fluid and the source
used for illumination. Further, we see that the linear taper is more sensitive than
the parabolic taper for all values for n2. This is due to the higher values of y T / a
in the case of the linear taper.
(iii) Exponential-Linear Taper. The results for this profile (Eq. (18)) for diffuse
and collimated sources are shown in Figure 5. The trends of the curves in both
cases are similar to Figure 4. The crossover values of n 2 arc approximately 1.372
and 1.374 for diffuse and collimated sources, respectively. This means that the
sensor with an exponential-linear taper profile and a low NA fiber is more sensitive
for a longer functional range of n 2 than the linear taper. In addition, the sensor
 442 B. D.Gupta and C.D.Singh
Downloaded by [University of Glasgow] at 22:27 04 January 2015

I I I I I I I I I I
1.335 1.345 1.355 1.365 1.375 1.385
"2

Figure 5. Same as Figure 2 except that the sensing region is an exponential-linear taper.

with an exponential-linear taper is more sensitive than those having parabolic and
linear profiles for both sources. As seen in previous cases, the sensor based on a
collimated source is more sensitive than that with a diffuse source.

Conclusions
On the basis of these results, the following conclusions are made.
(i) For a given geometry of the sensing region, the collimated source and a
lens combination for launching the light in the evanescent wave fiber-optic absorp-
tion sensor is more effective than the diffuse source.
(ii) The numerical aperture of the optical fiber affects the sensitivity of the
sensor. An increase in the numerical aperture increases the sensitivity of the
sensor having a uniform sensing region.
(iii) The sensitivity can further be increased if the sensing region is tapered.
For a given diameter of the input and output ends of the taper, the sensitivity
depends on the taper profile.
(iv) The sensitivity of the sensor depends on the refractive index of the
absorbing fluid. The higher the refractive index, the higher the sensitivity will be.
In the case of the taper, the maximum achievable sensitivity depends upon the
numerical aperture of the optical fiber. Which NA (low or high) fiber will give
maximum sensitivity to the sensor for a given fluid depends on the geometry of the
taper and the refractive index of the fluid.

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