Fiber optic sensing of liquid refractive index

A.Krishna Sandeep (09bei007) B.Tarun Kumar (09bei013)

The measurement of refractive index (RI) is important in a variety of applications Refraction of light by turbid colloidal dispersions From critical angle and Brewster angle Based on optical fiber

Advantages:
y In bio-sensing there is a need to measure small RI

changes in small volumes of liquid.

y Traditional bulk refractometers are then not

appropriate due to size and weight.

y RI sensor are very compact in size,needs only a small

volume.

 Tapering of fiber and stripping of the fiber cladding have been used to make optical fiber a sensitive sensor of RI Untapered, fully cladded fibers with thin films deposited on them have also been used as RI sensors Coating with sol gel makes it a sensor of chemicals. For finding refractive index we use plastic coating

Measurement system:

A laser beam ( = 633 nm) obtained from a Helium neon laser falls on a beam splitter The beam then splits into reference and a sample beam that emerge in perpendicular directions The sample beam passes through a sensor fiber immersed in the fluid of interest The beam falls on two separate matched photo detectors whose output currents are converted into proportional voltages

The ratio of their outputs is calculated using a personal computer Reference beam that directly falls onto a photodiode without passing through a fiber or has passed through a fully cladded fiber shows certain range of linearity Fiber used is step index fiber and is referred to as PCP fiber and cladding is coated with plastic .

 Fiber diameter: 430 or 830 um core diameter:400 or 800 um max error for diameters: +5, 10um for 400m

fiber 10um for 800m fiber Numerical Aperture(NA): 0.370.02. Refractive index of fiber core at 630nm is 1.457 N.A. is 1.40.

Fiber etching:
Optical fiber is unclad in the sensing region to make it an effective refractive index sensor. y As a result, the light in the core cladding interface interacts with the surrounding liquid. y The fiber is uncladded mechanically by careful use of a razor. y The PCS fiber has an outer buffer jacket which cannot be removed by simple mechanical methods
y

By immersing the fiber in 98% concentrated sulphuric acid The degree of cladding removal is dependent on the length of the time of immersion of the fiber in acid Length of uncladded region is half of the total length of fiber. Typical length of fiber is 30cm.

It is not possible to stop etching right where the jacket alone has been removed and the hard plastic layer is intact. Etching for 16 h removes the buffer jacket and plastic layer completely. The degree of uncladding can be monitored by measurement of its thickness in an optical microscope

 Different refractive indices of different conc liquids like water sucrose solution, glycerol solution, pure dimethyl sulfoxide and pure nitrobenzene are used Intensity ratio for a given fiber specification change with test liquid used

Plot of intensity ratio (R) as a function of liquid refractive index (RI

 The maximum is sharper for an unclad length of 1.5cm as compared to that of 3.0 and 4.5cm. The height of the falling edge of the intensity ratio profile is 0.11, while those of the rising edge is 0.11 in 1.5cm. The quantity that monitors the RI of the liquid is the intensity of reflected light at the liquidfiber interface. Negative slope in the range of liquid RI below the fiber RI ( 1.371.48) and a positive slope when RI of test liquid exceeds that of fiber is observed.

Sensor response to RI change:

Isig R ! Iref

Isig denote the output intensity from the uncladded fiber immersed in the liquid

Iref be the intensity of the reference beam.

The variation of R with n due to different fiber preparations In the plots the intensity varies exponentially as

R ! A exp( n / t )  y

Range:
In general the sensitive RI sensors have the range 1.331.56. significant response only in the range n = 1.471.50

Accuracy:
The accuracy of this method is entirely dependent on that of the reported RI values used in calibration.

Sensitivity:

Thank you. . . .