Microsphere Coupled Off-Core Fiber Sensor for Ultrasound Sensing

A compact fiber ultrasound-sensing device comprising a commercially available Barium Titanate (BaTiO₃) glass microsphere coupled to an open cavity off-core Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) fiber sensor is proposed and demonstrated. The open cavity is fabricated through splicing two segments of a single mode fiber (SMF-28) at lateral offsets. The lateral offset is matched to the radius of the microsphere to maximize their coupling and allow for an increased sensing response. Furthermore, the microsphere can be moved along the open-air cavity to allow for tuning of the reflection spectrum. The multiple passes of the FPI enabled by the high refractive index microsphere results in a 40 dB enhancement of finesse and achieves broadband ultrasound sensing from 0.1-45.6 MHz driven via a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) centered at 3.7 MHz. The goal is to achieve frequency detection in the MHz range using a repeatable, cost effective, and easy to fabricate FPI sensor design.

Light-guided localization within tissue using biocompatible surgical suture fiber as an optical waveguide

In breast-conserving surgery, an optical wire is a useful surgical guiding tool to optically locate small lesions within the breast tissue. However, the use of a long silica glass fiber as the optical wire can be burdensome to patients because of its stiffness and nonbiocompatibility. We investigate the use of a biocompatible fiber for light localization in tissue. A surgical suture with a diameter of 400 μm and a few centimeters long is employed as the biocompatible optical waveguide to transport the visible laser light to the inner tissue site. Optical location is confirmed with glow ball-like red laser illumination at the tip of the suture embedded within a fresh chicken breast tissue. Effective optical power coupling to the suture is made by using a double-cladding fiber coupler. From this preliminary result, we realize practical light localization with biopolymer waveguides.

A hybrid fiber-optic photoluminescence measurement system and its application in InGaN/GaN light emitting diode epi-wafer morphology studies

We report a fiber optic photoluminescence (PL) measurement system using a novel hybrid probe composed of a series of single mode fiber (SMF) and double-clad fiber (DCF) terminated with a coreless silica fiber (CSF) segment and glass micro-lens formed on its cleaved-facet. The fiber probe provided a good guidance and focusing capability for the excitation photon with a focal length of 125 μm and a beam diameter of 13.6 μm. Utilizing a special DCF-to-DCF coupling scheme, the photoluminescence signals were efficiently collected and delivered to a photodetector with a low loss. Utilizing the proposed system, PL morphology was investigated over a 200 × 200 μm(2) area for two types of InGaN/GaN blue light emitting diode (LED) epi-wafers grown on 1) an un-patterned sapphire substrate (UPSS), and 2) a patterned sapphire substrate (PSS). The uniformity in the relative PL intensity and the spectral uniformity in terms of the peak PL wavelength were experimentally compared and analyzed.

Interferometric fiber optic sensors

Fiber optic interferometers to sense various physical parameters including temperature, strain, pressure, and refractive index have been widely investigated. They can be categorized into four types: Fabry-Perot, Mach-Zehnder, Michelson, and Sagnac. In this paper, each type of interferometric sensor is reviewed in terms of operating principles, fabrication methods, and application fields. Some specific examples of recently reported interferometeric sensor technologies are presented in detail to show their large potential in practical applications. Some of the simple to fabricate but exceedingly effective Fabry-Perot interferometers, implemented in both extrinsic and intrinsic structures, are discussed. Also, a wide variety of Mach-Zehnder and Michelson interferometric sensors based on photonic crystal fibers are introduced along with their remarkable sensing performances. Finally, the simultaneous multi-parameter sensing capability of a pair of long period fiber grating (LPG) is presented in two types of structures; one is the Mach-Zehnder interferometer formed in a double cladding fiber and the other is the highly sensitive Sagnac interferometer cascaded with an LPG pair.