Preparation of metal-organic framework @molecularly imprinted polymers for extracting strobilurin fungicides from agricultural products.

The core-shell metal-organic framework coated with molecularly imprinted polymers (ZIF-8@MIPs) were successfully synthesized by surface imprinting technique, and applied as adsorbents for solid-phase extraction of strobilurin fungicides. The obtained hybrid complex was characterized in detail, and their adsorbing and recognition performance were evaluated. The results showed that ZIF-8@MIPs presented typically core-shell structure with MIP shell (about 20 nm), and exhibited larger adsorption capacity (102.5 mg g-1) and fast adsorption ability (only 5 min). Under the optimized conditions, a sensitive, efficient and reliable method for determining six strobilurin fungicides in different agricultural products based on ZIF-8@MIPs coupling with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was established. This method showed good linearity with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9990. With spiked at three different concentration levels in agricultural products (apple, pear, banana, Chinese cabbage, cabbage, cucumber), the good recoveries (83.5-129.0%) with relative standard deviations from 0.5 to 10.2% were obtained. The limit of detections and the limit of quantifications were 0.01-1.12 ng g-1 and 0.03-3.73 ng g-1, respectively. Those results demonstrated good potential application of ZIF-8@MIPs for enriching and separating trace strobilurin fungicides in agricultural samples.

Link optimized few-mode fiber Raman distributed temperature sensors.

A link optimized few-mode fiber-based Raman distributed temperature sensor is proposed to enhance the temperature resolution of the long-distance sensing system. Comprehensive theoretical analysis and experimental validation in contrast with the traditional single-mode fiber-based sensing link have been conducted to reveal the benefits provided by the optimization scheme. The temperature resolutions are about 3.8°C for the proposed fiber link at 20 km distance, leading to about 6.2°C improvement compared with the single-mode fiber (SMF) link. The total measurement is completed within 80 s over 20 km with a spatial resolution of 3 m.

Gross beta determination in drinking water using scintillating fiber array detector.

A scintillating fiber array detector for measuring gross beta counting is developed to monitor the real-time radioactivity in drinking water. The detector, placed in a stainless-steel tank, consists of 1096 scintillating fibers, both sides of which are connected to a photomultiplier tube. The detector parameters, including working voltage, background counting rate and stability, are tested, and the detection efficiency is calibrated using standard potassium chloride solution. Water samples are measured with the detector and the results are compared with those by evaporation method. The results show consistency with those by evaporation method. The background counting rate of the detector is 38.131 ±â€¯0.005 cps, and the detection efficiency for ß particles is 0.37 ±â€¯0.01 cps/(Bq/l). The MDAC of this system can be less than 1.0 Bq/l for ß particles in 120 min without pre-concentration.

Towards large dynamic range and ultrahigh measurement resolution in distributed fiber sensing based on multicore fiber.

Featuring a dependence of Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) on temperature and strain changes over a wide range, Brillouin distributed optical fiber sensors are however essentially subjected to the relatively poor temperature/strain measurement resolution. On the other hand, phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (Φ-OTDR) offers ultrahigh temperature/strain measurement resolution, but the available frequency scanning range is normally narrow thereby severely restricts its measurement dynamic range. In order to achieve large dynamic range and high measurement resolution simultaneously, we propose to employ both the Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA) and Φ-OTDR through space-division multiplexed (SDM) configuration based on the multicore fiber (MCF), in which the two sensors are spatially separately implemented in the central core and a side core, respectively. As a proof of concept, the temperature sensing has been performed for validation with 2.5 m spatial resolution over 1.565 km MCF. Large temperature range (10 °C) has been measured by BOTDA and the 0.1 °C small temperature variation is successfully identified by Φ-OTDR with ~0.001 °C resolution. Moreover, the temperature changing process has been recorded by continuously performing the measurement of Φ-OTDR with 80 s frequency scanning period, showing about 0.02 °C temperature spacing at the monitored profile. The proposed system enables the capability to see finer and/or farther upon requirement in distributed optical fiber sensing.

Adaptive ultrasonic sensor using a fiber ring laser with tandem fiber Bragg gratings.

We propose and demonstrate an intensity-demodulated fiber-optic ultrasonic sensor system that can be self-adaptive to large quasi-static background strain perturbations. The sensor system is based on a fiber ring laser (FRL) whose laser cavity includes a pair of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). Self-adaptive ultrasonic detection is achieved by a tandem design where the two FBGs are engineered to have differential spectral responses to ultrasonic waves and are installed side-by-side at the same location on a structure. As a result, ultrasonic waves lead to relative spectral shifts of the FBGs and modulations to the cold-cavity loss of the FRL. Ultrasonic waves can then be detected directly from the laser intensity variations in response to the cold-cavity loss modulation. The sensor system is insensitive to quasi-static background strains because they lead to identical responses of the tandem FBGs. Based on the principle, a FRL sensor system was demonstrated and tested for adaptive ultrasonic detection when large static strains as well as dynamic sinusoidal vibrations were applied to the sensor.

Intensity-demodulated fiber-ring laser sensor system for acoustic emission detection.

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate a fiber-optic ultrasonic sensor system based on a fiber-ring laser whose cavity consisting of a regular fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and a tunable optical band-pass filter (TOBPF). The FBG is the sensing element and the TOBPF is used to set the lasing wavelength at a point on the spectral slope of the FBG. The ultrasonic signal is detected by the variations of the laser output intensity in response to the cold-cavity loss modulations from the ultrasonically-induced FBG spectral shift. The system demonstrated here has a simple structure and low cost, making it attractive for acoustic emission detection in structure health monitoring.

Multiplexed fiber-ring laser sensors for ultrasonic detection.

We propose and demonstrate a multiplexing method for ultrasonic sensors based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) that are included inside the laser cavity of a fiber-ring laser. The multiplexing is achieved using add-drop filters to route the light signals, according to their wavelengths, into different optical paths, each of which contains a separate span of erbium-doped fiber (EDF) as the gain medium. Because a specific span of EDF only addresses a single wavelength channel, mode completion is avoided and the FBG ultrasonic sensors can be simultaneously demodulated. The proposed method is experimentally demonstrated using a two-channel system with two sensing FBGs in a single span of fiber.