Agarose coated spherical micro resonator for humidity measurements

Cr(VI)-Responsive Ink with Four-Dimensional Printing of an Ultracompact Hydrogel Optical Fiber Microsensor

Hydrogel is emerging as a promising material for smart sensors due to its remarkable stimuli-responsiveness and biocompatibility. However, traditional methods like ultraviolet curing or imprinting could not yield ultracompact hydrogel microstructures with sophisticated design and controllable morphology, posing challenges in developing highly integrated microfluidic sensors. With the advanced femtosecond laser (Fs) direct writing technology, an intelligent hydrogel optical microsensor is prepared for real-time monitoring of trace hexavalent chromium ions [Cr(VI)] in water. First, a Cr(VI)-responsive hydrogel ink containing 3-acrylamidopropyl-trimethyammonium chloride (ACTC) is developed, boasting a printing resolution of ∼250 nm. Subsequently, a fiber-tip Fabry-Perot cavity (FPC) Cr(VI) microsensor is printed using a multimaterial TPP strategy. The sensor shows an ultracompact size (∼100 μm) and high specificity for detecting trace liquid samples. The detection limit of 1.48 × 10-9 M makes it suitable for rapidly detecting trace Cr(VI). The on-chip direct writing of smart hydrogel MEMS sensors provides an ultracompact detection platform for environmental protection and analytical science fields.

High-sensitivity whispering-gallery mode sensor for simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, optical fiber whispering-gallery mode (WGM) sensor for simultaneously measuring humidity and temperature is proposed and investigated. The proposed sensor is realized by a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-coated capillary tube coupling with an optical single-mode fiber (SMF), which is integrated with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The as-fabricated sensor can be used not only for relative humidity (RH) sensing but also for temperature detection. The achieved humidity and temperature sensitivities are -181.2 pm/%RH and 10.5 pm/°C, respectively. The easy fabrication and very high sensitivity of the proposed sensor are attractive features for high-precision and wide-range RH sensing applications.

Near-field optomechanical transduction enhanced by Raman gain

Raman-gain-enhanced near-field optomechanical transduction between a movable optical cavity and SiN-membrane resonator is demonstrated. The Raman gain compensates for the intrinsic loss of the cavity and amplifies the optomechanical transduction, through which the membrane vibration is sensed using a high-Q whispering-gallery-mode optical cavity evanescently. The optical Q of the cavity resonance is improved with respect to the optical pump power, which results in an increase in the optomechanically transduced vibration signals of the mechanical resonator. Our near-field optomechanical coupling approach with optical gain realizes highly sensitive displacement measurement in nano- and micro-mechanical resonators consisting of arbitrary materials and structures.

Femtosecond Laser Inscribed Excessively Tilted Fiber Grating for Humidity Sensing

We propose a humidity sensor using an excessively tilted fiber grating (Ex-TFG) coated with agarose fabricated using femtosecond laser processing. The processed grating showcases remarkable differentiation between TE and TM modes, achieving an exceptionally narrow bandwidth of approximately 1.5 nm and an impressive modulation depth of up to 15 dB for both modes. We exposed the agarose-coated TFG sensor to various relative humidity levels and monitored the resonance wavelength to test its humidity sensing capability. Our findings demonstrated that the sensor exhibited a rapid response time (2-4 s) and showed a high response sensitivity (18.5 pm/%RH) between the humidity changes and the resonant wavelength shifts. The high sensitivity, linearity, repeatability, low hysteresis, and excellent long-term stability of the TFG humidity sensor, as demonstrated in our experimental results, make it an attractive option for environmental monitoring or biomedical diagnosis.

Agar-based optical sensors for electric current measurements

Biodegradable optical waveguides are breakthrough technologies to light delivery and sensing in biomedical and environmental applications. Agar emerges as an edible, soft, low-cost, and renewable alternative to traditional biopolymers, presenting remarkable optical and mechanical characteristics. Previous works introduced agar-made optical fibers for chemical measurements based on their inherent response to humidity and surrounding concentration. Therefore, we propose, for the first time, an all-optical, biodegradable electric current sensor. As flowing charges heat the agar matrix and modulate its refractive index, we connect the optical device to a DC voltage source using pin headers and excite the agar sample with coherent light to project spatiotemporally deviating speckle fields. Experiments proceeded with spheres and no-core fibers comprising 2 wt% agar/water. Once the increasing current stimulates the speckles' motion, we acquire such images with a camera and evaluate their correlation coefficients, yielding exponential decay-like functions whose time constants provide the input amperage. Furthermore, the light granules follow the polarization of the applied voltage drop, providing visual information about the current direction. The results indicate a maximum resolution of [Formula: see text]0.4 [Formula: see text]A for electrical stimuli [Formula: see text] 100 [Formula: see text]A, which fulfills the requirements for bioelectrical signal assessment.

A Micron-Range Displacement Sensor Based on Thermo-Optically Tuned Whispering Gallery Modes in a Microcapillary Resonator

A novel micron-range displacement sensor based on a whispering-gallery mode (WGM) microcapillary resonator filled with a nematic liquid crystal (LC) and a magnetic nanoparticle- coated fiber half-taper is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. In the proposed device, the tip of a fiber half-taper coated with a thin layer of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) moves inside the LC-filled microcapillary resonator along its axis. The input end of the fiber half-taper is connected to a pump laser source and due to the thermo-optic effect within the MNPs, the fiber tip acts as point heat source increasing the temperature of the LC material in its vicinity. An increase in the LC temperature leads to a decrease in its effective refractive index, which in turn causes spectral shift of the WGM resonances monitored in the transmission spectrum of the coupling fiber. The spectral shift of the WGMs is proportional to the displacement of the MNP-coated tip with respect to the microcapillary's light coupling point. The sensor's operation is simulated considering heat transfer in the microcapillary filled with a LC material having a negative thermo-optic coefficient. The simulations are in a good agreement with the WGMs spectral shift observed experimentally. A sensitivity to displacement of 15.44 pm/µm and a response time of 260 ms were demonstrated for the proposed sensor. The device also shows good reversibility and repeatability of response. The proposed micro-displacement sensor has potential applications in micro-manufacturing, precision measurement and medical instruments.

On-chip simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature using cascaded photonic crystal microring resonators with error correction

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of cascaded silicon-on-insulator photonic crystal microring resonators (PhCMRRs) for dual-parameter sensing based on a multiple resonances multiple modes (MRMM) technique. Benefitting from the slow-light effect, the engineered PhCMRRs exhibit unique optical field distributions with different sensitivities via the excitation of dielectric and air modes. The multiple resonances of two distinct modes offer new possibilities for enriching the sensing receptors with additional information about environmental changes while preserving all essential properties of traditional microring resonator based sensors. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate the feasibility of extracting humidity and temperature responses simultaneously with a single spectrum measurement by employing polymethyl methacrylate as the hydrophilic coating, obtaining a relative humidity (RH) sensitivity of 3.36 pm/%RH, 5.57 pm/%RH and a temperature sensitivity of 85.9 pm/°C, 67.1 pm/°C for selected dielectric mode and air mode, respectively. Moreover, the MRMM enriched data further forges the capability to perform mutual cancellation of the measurement error, which improves the sensing performance reflected by the coefficient of determination (R²-value), calculated as 0.97 and 0.99 for RH and temperature sensing results, respectively.

Spectrally tunable liquid resonator based on electrowetting

We present a tunable on-chip liquid resonator in conjunction with a tapered fiber coupling scheme. The resonator consists of a glycerol droplet submerged within an immiscible liquid bath, which mitigates the effects of environmental fluctuations. The platform is fabricated using standard semiconductor techniques, which enable the future integration of photonic components for an on-chip liquid resonator device. The liquid resonator maintains its high Q-factor on chip (10⁵) due to surface tension forming an atomically smooth liquid-liquid interface. Higher Q-factor resonance modes experienced linewidth broadening due to the random excitation of thermal capillary vibrations. Spectral tuning is demonstrated using the electrowetting effect, increasing the surface's wettability and an expansion in the droplet diameter. A maximum spectral tuning of 1.44 nm ± 5 pm is observed by applying 35 V. The tuning range is twice the free spectral range (FSR) of 0.679 nm measured at a pumping wavelength range of 770-775 nm. A 2D axisymmetric finite-element simulation shows resonance modes in good agreement with experimentally measured spectra and with predicted tuning speeds of 20 nm/s.

Polarimetric fiber laser for relative humidity sensing based on graphene oxide-coated D-shaped fiber and beat frequency demodulation

We first propose and demonstrate a polarimetric fiber laser system for relative humidity (RH) sensing based on the beat frequency demodulation. A graphene oxide-coated D-shaped fiber (GDF) with a low insertion loss of 0.8 dB was embedded into a laser cavity to form an RH sensing probe. The output of the fiber laser could generate mode splitting between two orthogonal polarization modes due to birefringence of the GDF device. Hence, two types of beat signals, i.e., longitudinal mode beat frequency (LMBF) and polarization mode beat frequency (PMBF) could be generated synchronously. The experimental results indicated that the LMBFs of the fiber laser had almost no response to the ambient humidity, and the PMBFs of the fiber laser were very sensitive to the various RH levels. There was a good linear relationship between the PMBF and RH changes in the range of 30% to 98%. This fiber-optic RH sensor exhibited a sensitivity of 34.7 kHz/RH% with a high quality of fit (R²>0.997) during the ambient RH increase and decrease. Moreover, the average response and recovery times of the fiber-optic RH sensor were measured to be about 64.2 ms and 97.8 ms, respectively. Due to its long stability, reversibility, quick response time and low temperature cross-sensitivity (i.e., 0.12 RH%/°C), the proposed fiber-optic RH sensor could offer attractive applications in many fields, such as biology, chemical processing and food processing, etc.

Thermo-optic tuning of a nematic liquid crystal-filled capillary whispering gallery mode resonator

A novel tunable whispering gallery modes (WGMs) resonator based on a nematic liquid crystal (LC)-filled capillary and magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs)-coated tapered fiber has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Thermo-optic tuning of the WGM resonances has been demonstrated by varying optical pump laser power injected into the MNPs-coated fiber half-taper inside the capillary. The tuning mechanism relies on the change of the effective refractive index (RI) of the nematic LC, caused by the photo-thermal effect of MNPs on the surface of the fiber half-taper inducing a temperature change inside the capillary. Tuning of the WGM resonances with sensitivities of 101.5 ± 3.5 pm/mW and 146.5 ± 3.5 pm/mW and tuning ranges of 1.96 nm and 3.28 nm respectively for the two types of liquid crystals (MLC-7012, MDA-05-2782) has been demonstrated. In addition, the relationship between the optical power of the pump laser and the local temperature of the nematic LC was investigated and the heating rate is estimated as 1.49 °C/mW. The proposed thermo-optic tuning scheme has many potential applications in tunable photonic devices and sensors.

Review of Fiber Optical Sensors and Its Importance in Sewer Corrosion Factor Analysis

Adverse effects of wastewater on the hygiene of human and circumstances is a major issue in society. Appropriate refining systems with high efficiency is required to treat the wastewater. Sewage treatment plant plays a major and important role in conserving incredible nature of the environment. Microbiologically Induced Corrosion (MIC) is an important phenomenon in sewage structures which causes the deterioration of infrastructures. Huge capital has been spent and efforts have been made on wastewater treatment infrastructure to increase operating efficiency and reliability of compliance. The investments in reimbursement and maintenance of sewer structures upsurge with an increase in the rate of MIC. The focus of this review is to describe MIC in sewer structure and the factors influencing the corrosion such as the generation of Sulfuric acid (H2SO4), Relative Humidity (RH), pH of the concrete structure and temperature. Modern developments in the design of Fiber Optical Sensors (FOSs) for observing the parameters including pH, Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), RH and temperature will be discussed.

High-Sensitivity Whispering Gallery Mode Humidity Sensor Based on Glycerol Microdroplet Volumetric Expansion

We demonstrate a highly sensitive whispering gallery mode (WGM) relative humidity (RH) sensor based on a glycerol microdroplet. WGMs were excited using a 760 nm tunable semiconductor laser. We used free space coupling, which is effective when using a liquid resonator. A detailed analysis of different parameters influencing the sensor’s characteristics (sensitivity, hysteresis, resolution, stability, and temperature) is presented. The sensitivity of the sensor is one of the highest reported (2.85 nm/% RH in the range 50–70% RH with the resolution 1 × 10⁻⁴% RH). This type of humidity sensor has several advantages, such as high sensitivity, extended lifetime, good repeatability, and low cost, as well as the use of a non-toxic and environmentally friendly liquid.

Cantilever-Based Sensor Utilizing a Diffractive Optical Element with High Sensitivity to Relative Humidity

High-sensitivity and simple, low-cost readout are desirable features for sensors independent of the application area. Micro-cantilever sensors use the deflection induced by the analyte presence to achieve high-sensitivity but possess complex electronic readouts. Current holographic sensors probe the analyte presence by measuring changes in their optical properties, have a simpler low-cost readout, but their sensitivity can be further improved. Here, the two working principles were combined to obtain a new hybrid sensor with enhanced sensitivity. The diffractive element, a holographically patterned thin photopolymer layer, was placed on a polymer (polydimethylsiloxane) layer forming a bi-layer macro-cantilever. The different responses of the layers to analyte presence lead to cantilever deflection. The sensitivity and detection limits were evaluated by measuring the variation in cantilever deflection and diffraction efficiency with relative humidity. It was observed that the sensitivity is tunable by controlling the spatial frequency of the photopolymer gratings and the cantilever thickness. The sensor deflection was also visible to the naked eye, making it a simple, user-friendly device. The hybrid sensor diffraction efficiency response to the target analyte had an increased sensitivity (10-fold when compared with the cantilever or holographic modes operating independently), requiring a minimum upturn in the readout complexity.

Fiber Optic Refractive Index Sensors Based on a Ball Resonator and Optical Backscatter Interrogation

In this work, we introduced fabrication and interrogation of simple and highly sensitive fiber-optic refractive index (RI) sensors based on ball resonators built on the tip of single-mode fibers. The probes have been fabricated through a CO₂ fiber splicer, with a fast (~600 s) and repeatable method. The ball resonator acted as a weak interferometer with a return loss below −50 dB and was interrogated with an optical backscatter reflectometer measuring the reflection spectrum. The ball resonators behaved as weak interferometers with a shallow fringe and a spectrum that appeared close to a random signal, and RI sensitivity could be measured either through wavelength shift or amplitude change. In this work, we reported four samples having sensitivity ranges 48.9–403.3 nm/RIU and 256.0–566.2 dB/RIU (RIU = refractive index unit). Ball resonators appeared as a sensitive and robust platform for RI sensing in liquid and can be further functionalized for biosensing.

Humidity sensor based on a graphene oxide-coated few-mode fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

A relative humidity sensor based on a graphene oxide-coated few-mode fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed in this paper. The MZI was made by splicing a segment of the few-mode fiber (FMF) between two segments of a no-core fiber (NCF) and two segments of a single mode fiber (SMF) located outside the two NCFs. The core and cladding of the FMF acted as interferometric arms, while the NCFs acted as couplers for splitting and recombining light due to mismatch of mode field diameter. The cladding of the FMF was corroded with hydrofluoric acid, and a layer of graphene oxide (GO) film was coated on the corroded cladding of FMF via the natural deposition method. The refractive index of GO varied upon absorption the water molecules. As a result, the phase difference of the MZI varied and the wavelength of the resonant dip shifted with a change in the ambient relative humidity (RH). High humidity sensitivity of 0.191 and 0.061 nm/%RH in the RH range of 30-55% and 55-95%, respectively, were achieved experimentally. The high sensitivity, compact size, and simple manufacturing of the proposed sensor could offer attractive applications in fields of chemical sensors and biochemical detection.

Strain-induced tunable dual-bottle-shaped optical microresonator

We present a novel dual-bottle microresonator with a high Q-factor exceeding 10⁷. Such a resonator consists of two lateral resonators and one central resonator. The maximum diameter of the lateral resonator is ∼180µm, and the central diameter is 124.91 µm. Characteristics of the whispering gallery mode spectra are investigated and explained by the microbottle resonance, mode interference, and scattering effects. Strain-tuning sensitivity varies from 0.126 to 1.7 pm/µε when a tapered fiber is placed at the resonator's different positions. With a coupled area at the middle of the central resonator, the highest, to the best of our knowledge, strain sensitivity of 1.7 pm/µε, which is higher than previously reported solid microresonator strain sensors, is achieved.

Natural spider silk as a photonics component for humidity sensing

Biological microfibers are remarkable materials with diversity in their chemistry, structure and functions that provide a range of solutions for photonic structures. Here we proposed and demonstrated a humidity detection technique for spectral tuning of whispering gallery modes (WGMs) in a cylindrical microresonator formed by a piece of spider egg sac silk (SpEss) from Araneus Ventricosus. We launched a supercontinuum laser into the SpEss via a tapered single-mode fiber to excite WGMs. When the ambient humidity changed, the profile diameter and effective refractive index of the SpEss changed, which caused the WGM resonant dips to shift. The experimental results showed that when the relative humidity (RH) changed from 20% to 75% RH, the average testing sensitivity of the proposed sensor was 389.1 pm/%RH and the maximum testing sensitivity was 606.7 pm/%RH in the range of 60% to 75% RH. Also, the proposed SpEss-based humidity sensor showed a fast response time of 494 ms and good repeatability with fluctuations less than 8% compared with the initial test values. The SpEss-based sensor expanded the application of spider silk as a biodegradable and biocompatible material in biochemical sensing.

Whispering gallery mode micro resonators for multi-parameter sensing applications

A novel fiber optic sensing configuration for simultaneously measuring ammonia vapor (NH₃) concentration and relative humidity (RH) in air is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The system comprised two silica whispering gallery mode (WGM) microsphere resonators coated with different polymer layers. One of the microspheres was dip-coated with sol gel silica polymer and another with a 0.5 % wt./vol. agarose hydrogel. WGMs in both microspheres were excited simultaneously by evanescent coupling using a single adiabatic fiber taper. The optical properties of both coating layers change due to their exposure to ammonia and water molecules in the surrounding atmosphere, resulting in the spectral shifts of the WGM resonances relevant to each of the microspheres. By measuring the relevant WGMs' spectral shifts, the NH₃ concentration in air and the RH can be determined simultaneously. The experimentally demonstrated sensitivity of the proposed sensor array to ammonia was estimated as 19.07 pm/ppm (NH₃ molecules in air) and its sensitivity to relative humidity as 1.07 pm/% RH. Detailed studies of the coatings' cross-sensitivity and temperature dependence are also presented. The proposed sensor array is compact, highly sensitive and potentially low cost.

Selective coupling of Whispering Gallery Modes in film coated micro-resonators

Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) micro-resonators like microspheres or microtoroids are typically used as high-Q cavity substrate on which a functional film coating is deposited. In order to exploit the coating properties a critical step is the efficient excitation of WGMs mainly contained inside the deposited layer. We developed a simple method able to assess whether or not these modes are selectively excited. The method is based on monitoring the thermal shift of the excited resonance, which uniquely depends on the thermo-optic coefficient and on the thermal expansion coefficient of the material in which the mode is embedded.

Silica Gel Coated Spherical Micro resonator for Ultra-High Sensitivity Detection of Ammonia Gas Concentration in Air

A silica gel coated microsphere resonator is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for measurements of ammonia (NH₃) concentration in air with ultra-high sensitivity. The optical properties of the porous silica gel layer change when it is exposed to low (parts per million (ppm)) and even ultra-low (parts per billion (ppb)) concentrations of ammonia vapor, leading to a spectral shift of the WGM resonances in the transmission spectrum of the fiber taper. The experimentally demonstrated sensitivity of the proposed sensor to ammonia is estimated as 34.46 pm/ppm in the low ammonia concentrations range from 4 ppm to 30 ppm using an optical spectrum analyser (OSA), and as 800 pm/ppm in the ultra-low range of ammonia concentrations from 2.5 ppb to 12 ppb using the frequency detuning method, resulting in the lowest detection limit (by two orders of magnitude) reported to date equal to 0.16 ppb of ammonia in air. In addition, the sensor exhibits excellent selectivity to ammonia and very fast response and recovery times measured at 1.5 and 3.6 seconds, respectively. Other attractive features of the proposed sensor are its compact nature, simplicity of fabrication.

Relative Humidity Sensor Based on No-Core Fiber Coated by Agarose-Gel Film

A relative humidity (RH) sensor based on single-mode–no-core–single-mode fiber (SNCS) structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The agarose gel is coated on the no-core fiber (NCF) as the cladding, and multimode interference (MMI) occurs in the SNCS structure. The transmission spectrum of the sensor is modulated at different ambient relative humidities due to the tunable refractive index property of the agarose gel film. The relative humidity can be measured by the wavelength shift and intensity variation of the dip in the transmission spectra. The humidity response of the sensors, coated with different concentrations and coating numbers of the agarose solution, were experimentally investigated. The wavelength and intensity sensitivity is obtained as −149 pm/%RH and −0.075 dB/%RH in the range of 30% RH to 75% RH, respectively. The rise and fall time is tested to be 4.8 s and 7.1 s, respectively. The proposed sensor has a great potential in real-time RH monitoring.

Study of the influence of the agarose hydrogel layer thickness on sensitivity of the coated silica microsphere resonator to humidity

In this paper, we investigate both theoretically and experimentally the influence of the agarose hydrogel layer thickness on the sensitivity of a proposed relative humidity (RH) sensor based on a silica microsphere resonator coated with agarose hydrogel. The operating principle of the sensor relies on excitation of whispering gallery modes (WGMs) in the coated silica microsphere using the evanescent field of a tapered fiber. A change in the ambient relative humidity is detected by measuring the wavelength shift of the WGMs in the transmission spectrum of the tapered fiber. Using perturbation theory, we analyze the influence of the agarose coating thickness on the sensitivity of the proposed sensor and compare the results of this analysis with experimental findings for different coating layer thicknesses. We demonstrate that an increase in the coating layer thickness initially leads to an increase in the sensitivity to RH and reaches saturation at higher values of the agarose layer thickness. The results of the study are useful for the design and optimization of microsphere sensor parameters to meet a performance specification.

Recent Developments in Fiber Optics Humidity Sensors

A wide range of applications such as health, human comfort, agriculture, food processing and storage, and electronic manufacturing, among others, require fast and accurate measurement of humidity. Sensors based on optical fibers present several advantages over electronic sensors and great research efforts have been made in recent years in this field. The present paper reports the current trends of optical fiber humidity sensors. The evolution of optical structures developed towards humidity sensing, as well as the novel materials used for this purpose, will be analyzed. Well-known optical structures, such as long-period fiber gratings or fiber Bragg gratings, are still being studied towards an enhancement of their sensitivity. Sensors based on lossy mode resonances constitute a platform that combines high sensitivity with low complexity, both in terms of their fabrication process and the equipment required. Novel structures, such as resonators, are being studied in order to improve the resolution of humidity sensors. Moreover, recent research on polymer optical fibers suggests that the sensitivity of this kind of sensor has not yet reached its limit. Therefore, there is still room for improvement in terms of sensitivity and resolution.