Optical fiber thermo-refractometer.

This work presents the implementation of a thermo-refractometer, which integrates the measurement of both refractive index and temperature in a single optical fiber structure. To this purpose, a lossy mode resonance (LMR)-based refractometer is obtained by means of the deposition of a titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin film onto a side-polished (D-shaped) single mode fiber. Measurement and subsequent temperature compensation are achieved by means of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) inscribed in the core of the D-shaped region. The LMR wavelength shift is monitored in transmission while the FBG (FBG peak at 1533 nm) displacement is observed in reflection. The LMR is sensitive to both the surrounding refractive index (SRI), with a sensitivity of 3725.2 nm/RIU in the 1.3324-1.3479 range, and the temperature (- 0.186 nm/°C); while the FBG is only affected by the temperature (32.6 pm/°C in the 25°C - 45°C range). With these values, it is possible to recover the SRI and temperature variations from the wavelength shifts of the LMR and the FBG, constituting a thermo-refractometer, where it is suppressed the effect of the temperature over the refractometer operation, which could cause errors in the fourth or even third decimal of the measured SRI value.

Simultaneous Generation of Surface Plasmon and Lossy Mode Resonances in the Same Planar Platform.

A planar waveguide consisting of a coverslip for a microscope glass slide was deposited in one of its two faces with two materials: silver and indium tin oxide (ITO). The incidence of light by the edge of the coverslip permitted the generation of both surface plasmon and lossy mode resonances (SPRs and LMRs) in the same transmission spectrum with a single optical source and detector. This proves the ability of this optical platform to be used as a benchmark for comparing different optical phenomena generated by both metal and dielectric materials, which can be used to progress in the assessment of different sensing technologies. Here the SPR and the LMR were compared in terms of sensitivity to refractive index and figure of merit (FoM), at the same time it was demonstrated that both resonances can operate independently when silver and ITO coated regions are surrounded by different refractive index liquids. The results were supported with numerical results that confirm the experimental ones.

Twin lossy mode resonance on a single D-shaped optical fiber.

This Letter presents the fabrication of dual lossy mode resonance (LMR) refractometers based on titanium dioxide (TiO2) and tin oxide (SnO2) thin films deposited on a single side-polished D-shaped optical fiber. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, two independent LMRs are obtained in the same D-shaped optical fiber, by using a step-shaped nanostructure consisting of a first section of TiO2 with a thickness of 120 nm and a second section with a thickness of 140 nm (120 nm of TiO2 and 20 nm of SnO2). Each section is responsible for generating a first-order LMR with TM-polarized light (LMRTM). TiO2 is deposited by atomic layer deposition and SnO2 by electron-beam deposition. The theoretical results show that the depth of each of the resonances of the dual LMR depends on the length of the corresponding section. Two experimental devices were fabricated with sections of different lengths, and their sensitivities were studied, achieving values ∼4000nm/refractiveindexunit (RIU) with a maximum of 4506 nm/RIU for values of the SRI between 1.3327 and 1.3485.

High sensitive refractometers based on lossy mode resonances (LMRs) supported by ITO coated D-shaped optical fibers.

Tin doped indium oxide (ITO) coatings fabricated onto D-shaped optical fibers are presented as the supporting medium for Lossy Mode Resonances (LMRs) generation. The characteristic geometry of ITO-coated D-shaped optical fibers enables to observe experimentally LMRs obtained with both TM and TE polarized light (LMR(TM) and LMR(TE)). This permits to obtain a maximum transmission decay of 36 dB with a LMR spectral width of 6.9 nm, improving that obtained in previous works, where the LMRs were a combination of an LMR(TM) and an LMR(TE). Surrounding medium refractive index (SMRI) sensitivity characterization of LMR(TM) has been performed obtaining a maximum sensitivity of 8742 nm/RIU in the range 1.365-1.38 refractive index units (RIU) which overcomes that of surface plasmon resonance-based optical fiber devices presented in recent works.

Optical fiber refractometers based on indium tin oxide coatings fabricated by sputtering.

This Letter presents the fabrication of optical fiber refractometers based on indium tin oxide (ITO) coatings deposited by sputtering with response in the visible region. ITO thin films have been sputtered by means of a rotating mechanism that enables the fabrication of smooth and homogeneous coatings onto the optical fiber core. The ITO coating acts as a resonance supporting layer. This permits us to couple light from the waveguide to the ITO-coating/external medium region at specific wavelength ranges. The device is sensitive to external medium refractive index, which allows its utilization as a refractometer. The sensitivity is dependent on the coating thickness, ranging from 523.21 to 1221 nm/refractive index unit in the explored sensors. The sensor development process is time effective compared to other techniques such as dip coating or layer-by-layer self-assembly, which is interesting in terms of mass production.