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In this study, an innovative method is presented for preparing optical fibers for application in fiber optic sensors operating in harsh environments. It is shown, how to attach a metal-coated fiber electrolytically to a metal sensing element, as well as an electroless method for depositing a nickel protective layer on optical fibers. Additionally, the results of the reliability tests of these methods are presented. It is also shown, that by depositing an additional nickel protective layer, it is possible to slow down the oxidation process of the copper coating. Analysis of the conducted experiments allows us to predict, that the connection method investigated and the method of protecting the fiber are robust and may find application in industrial optical sensors.

Sensors based on fiber optics are irreplaceable wherever immunity to strong electro-magnetic fields or safe operation in explosive atmospheres is needed. Furthermore, it is often essential to be able to monitor high temperatures of over 500°C in such environments (e.g. in cooling systems or equipment monitoring in power plants). In order to meet this demand, we have designed and manufactured a fiber optic sensor with which temperatures up to 900°C can be measured. The sensor utilizes multi-core fibers which are recognized as the dedicated medium for telecommunication or shape sensing, but as we show may be also deployed advantageously in new types of fiber optic temperature sensors. The sensor presented in this paper is based on a dual-core microstructured fiber Michelson interferometer. The fiber is characterized by strongly coupled cores, hence it acts as an all-fiber coupler, but with an outer diameter significantly wider than a standard fused biconical taper coupler, which significantly increases the coupling region’s mechanical reliability. Owing to the proposed interferometer imbalance, effective operation and high-sensitivity can be achieved. The presented sensor is designed to be used at high temperatures as a result of the developed low temperature chemical process of metal (copper or gold) coating. The hermetic metal coating can be applied directly to the silica cladding of the fiber or the fiber component. This operation significantly reduces the degradation of sensors due to hydrolysis in uncontrolled atmospheres and high temperatures.

Fiber optic sensors (FOS) are insensitive to external EM fields and are intrinsically safe (as no electrical power is needed at the sensing point), so the measurement can be performed in areas where standard electronic devices cannot easily be applied. What is more, due to the very low silica fiber attenuation the measurement point can be located kilometers away from a light source and detector, which makes the sensors independent of a local power source. Furthermore the FOS are small so they can be used for sensing in mechanical mechanisms where there is not much free space. They can also be easily integrated with the structure of different materials for military applications (e.g. in tanks and airplanes). In this work we propose an intrinsically safe temperature sensor based on fiber optic technology. The presented sensor is entirely passive and benefits from all of the advantages mentioned above, which allows it to be applied in the most demanding environments. The construction of the presented sensor is based on a dedicated microstructured optical fiber which allows both the range and sensitivity of the sensor to be adjusted to a specific application.

In presented work, we examined the structures of dual-core fibers paying special attention to the possibility of using them for sensing. In the hole-assisted fiber structure, the character of propagation in the cores was changed fluently, by post-processing the fiber, i.e. tapering with collapsing the holes. Fiber post-processing changed the conditions for supermodes interference and thus the different scale of power transfer between cores was observed. In the paper we investigated the influence of the taper parameters (taper waist, length and ratio) on the properties of the fiber. We have also studied the behaviour of the transmitted signal, while putting post-processed segment of fiber into different external conditions. Presented research shows a great potential of using modified hole-assisted fibers as sensing elements.

In this work we present an innovative method of enhancing optical fibers’ resistance to extremely high temperatures by deposition of a multilayer metal coating on the fibers’ surface. Such multilayer coating is necessary because of the silica degradation at elevated temperatures. Despite the fact that copper coated fibers work well at temperatures up to 400°C, at higher temperatures copper oxidizes and can no longer protect the fiber. To hold back the copper oxidation and silica degradation processes we developed a dedicated multilayer coating which allows fibers to operate at temperatures up to 700°C. The optimal protective layer has been chosen after numerous high-temperature tests, where copper plates coated with different kinds of coatings were evaluated. What is more, we present results of the high-temperature reliability tests of copper coated fibers protected with our multilayer coating. Performed tests proved that our solution significantly improved optical fibers’ reliability to both: elevated temperatures and rapid changes of temperature. Furthermore the developed metal coatings allow fibers’ to be electrolytically bonded to other metal elements (e.g. sensor transducers) what makes them great candidates for harsh environment fiber optic sensor applications.

In this paper we present the idea and test results of an all-fiber unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer for fiber Bragg grating shift demodulation. The interferometer design allows to monitor Bragg wavelength changes (caused by temperature or strain variations) as changes of intensity on the output detector. Furthermore the construction is cost-effective and based on simple optoelectronic components, which makes the solution attractive for application as a low cost fiber Bragg grating interrogator.

In this work we present a nanocrystalline monoclinic ZrO2 with large free volumen open towards the nanocrystals surface dedicated for optical oxygen sensors. Nanoporous zirconia nanopowder was fabricated in hydrothermal microwave-driven process followed by annealing at 800°C. Metal-coated optical fibers are proposed as a light carrier when the working temperature exceeds 500°C. The obtained results may also find application in luminescent fiber optic oxygen sensors. Publisher PDF

In this work we present an innovative method of connecting metal coated optical fibers with metal surfaces. The process is based on electrolytic reaction between copper and allows to obtain a robustand inflexible connection. Furthermore reliability tests of such fiber to metal joints have been performed, with the results of mechanical strength and temperature resistance tests presented. Additionally, as accelerated oxidation of copper at elevated temperatures is a major concern in long term temperature stability of the connection, we propose a method of slowing down the oxidation process with chemical nickel coating. Analysis of the obtained results allows us to predict that the investigated connection may find applications in various industrial optical sensors with special focus on harsh environments.

The paper presents a new solution of flowmeter to measure the flowing medium velocity using fiber sensing methods. A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is implemented for the detection of vortices [1] [2]. The measurement of flow is based on the vortex frequency detection of a vibrating diaphragm placed in an optimized measuring chamber. The stress of the vibrating diaphragm is measured with use of a Mach-Zehnder (MZ) fiber interferometer whose fiber arms are fixed with the diaphragm. This solution allows for measuring flow of liquids, gases and vapors in the temperature range of -200°C to +550°C and pressures up to 300 bar.

In this work we present a novel highly Ge doped microstructured fiber design dedicated for fiber Bragg grating (FBG) inscription and longitudinal strain sensing. Three series of the reported fiber differentiated by air-hole diameters were drawn and presented. After numerical analysis of the propagation conditions (with effective refractive index, loss and mode area calculated) in the real structures, the fibers were subjected to femtosecond FBG inscription. We show the resulting typical FBG spectra, as well as measure the longitudinal strain sensitivity of the fabricated samples and its dependence on the microstructure geometry. An increase of approx. 4% in the Bragg wavelength strain sensitivity was noticed for an increase of the large air-hole diameter of approx. 10%.

Constantly refined technology of manufacturing increasingly complex photonic crystal fibers (PCF) leads to new optical fiber sensor concepts. The ways of enhancing the influence of external factors (such as hydrostatic pressure, temperature, acceleration) on the fiber propagating conditions are commonly investigated in literature. On the other hand longitudinal strain analysis, due to the calculation difficulties caused by the three dimensional computation, are somehow neglected. In this paper we show results of such a 3D numerical simulation and report methods of tuning the fiber strain sensitivity by changing the fiber microstructure and core doping level. Furthermore our approach allows to control whether the modes’ effective refractive index is increasing or decreasing with strain, with the possibility of achieving zero strain sensitivity with specific fiber geometries. The presented numerical analysis is compared with experimental results of the fabricated fibers characterization. Basing on the aforementioned methodology we propose a novel dual-core fiber design with significantly increased sensitivity to longitudinal strain for optical fiber sensor applications. Furthermore the reported fiber satisfies all conditions necessary for commercial applications like good mode matching with standard single-mode fiber, low confinement loss and ease of manufacturing with the stack-and-draw technique. Such fiber may serve as an integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometer when highly coherent source is used. With the optimization of single mode transmission to 850 nm, we propose a VCSEL source to be used in order to achieve a low-cost, reliable and compact strain sensing transducer.

Photonic crystal fibers (PCF), sometimes also referred to as microstructured fibers (MSF), have been a subject of extensive research for over a decade. This is mainly due to the fact that by changing the geometry and distribution of the air holes the fiber properties can be significantly modified and tailored to specific applications. In this paper we present the results of a numerical analysis of the influence of the air-hole distribution on the sensitivity of the propagated modes’ effective refractive index to externally applied longitudinal strain. We propose an optimal strain sensitive fiber design, with a number of fibers drawn and experimentally evaluated to confirm the theoretical results. Furthermore as the direct measurement of the effective refractive index change may be complex and challenging in field environment, we propose to use fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) in our sensing set-up. As the Bragg wavelength is a function of the effective refractive index, the external strain changes can be monitored through the Bragg wavelength shift with a simple optical spectrometer. Moreover, since the PCF is also optimized for low-loss splicing with standard single mode fiber, our novel sensor head can be used with standard off-the-shelf components in complex multiplexed sensing arrays, with the measured signal transmitted to and from the sensor head by standard telecom fibers, which significantly reduces costs.

Sensitivity of optical fibers to the temperature, longitudinal strain or pressure, is a very important feature in many applications, such as sensors or telecommunication. The most common way to modify (depending on application - either mitigate or strengthen,) this sensitivity is changing the fiber material properties by appropriate glass doping or by employing appropriate microstructure in the fiber. In some cases the precise adjustment of a doping level and sophisticated design of air-holes arrangement is needed to obtain required features of the fiber. In this paper, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we report the investigation of the mode area and geometry influence on the fiber temperature and mechanical sensitivities. To do so, we engaged a dedicated all-fiber interferometer which enables the measurement of the temperature and longitudinal strain sensitivities of different fiber types, including conventional and microstructured fibers with different core diameters.

Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) are one of the most successful fiber optic technologies with very interesting perspectives for application in fiber optic sensing. It has been already reported that the possibility of its fabrication in novel microstructured fibers (MSF), creating a unique 3D structure, can significantly improve their performance and sensing properties. In this paper we present the results of FBG inscription in a dual-mode highly birefringent (HB) MSF with enhanced polarimetric strain sensitivity of the second order mode, as its mode maxima are closer to the cladding air-holes, where the strain distribution during fiber elongation is the highest. We perform an analysis and comparison of the FBG reflection and transmission characteristics, showing the effects of power coupling to cladding radiation modes. Furthermore we present the results of temperature and longitudinal strain sensitivities of the particular modes visible in the grating reflection spectrum followed by conclusions with reference to our previously reported results of polarimetric strain and temperature measurements of a similar fiber design.

In this paper we present the results of theoretical characterization of a few-mode birefringent microstructured fiber dedicated for fiber Bragg grating (FBG) inscription. The spectral characteristics of FBGs written (with a nanosecond and femtosecond laser Talbot interferometer setups) in the core region of the investigated fiber are presented and discussed. We compare the experimental results of the polarimetric strain sensitivity with our previously reported data, outlining perspectives for developing a highly sensitive (with strain sensitivity of second order mode two orders of magnitude higher in comparison to fundamental mode), temperature independent, FBG based strain transducer.

We present the results of theoretical and experimental characterization of a designed and manufactured dual-mode highly birefringent microstructured fiber. We also demonstrate the measured values of polarimetric temperature and strain sensitivity of both the fundamental and second order modes. As the mode field of the second order mode has a strong interaction with the fiber air holes, we observed a significant (over two orders of magnitude) increase in the polarimetric strain sensitivity of this mode in comparison to the fundamental mode. The enhanced strain sensitivity together with the low temperature sensitivity makes our fiber very attractive for application as extremely sensitive temperature independent strain transducers.

In this paper we discuss optical fiber sensors protected by metal coatings and their industrial applications. In particular, we focus on gold-coated temperature sensor for application in temperature up to 900°C based on dual-core fiber.