Innovative fiber optic sensor for hydrogen detection

A new design of a fiber optic sensor using Palladium as a sensitive layer is presented. In this new configuration, a transducer layer is deposited on a multimode fiber (without the optical cladding). The transducer layer is a multilayer stack based on a silver, a silica and a Pd layer. The spectral modulation of the light transmitted by the fiber allows to detect hydrogen. The sensor is only sensitive to the Transverse Magnetic polarized light and the Transverse Electric polarized light can be used as a reference signal. The multilayer thickness defines the sensor performance. The Silica thickness tunes the resonant wavelength, whereas the silver and Pd thickness determines the sensor sensitivity. We present some results obtained for different multilayer Pd configurations.