Yao M, Ouyang X, Wu J, Zhang AP, Tam HY, Wai PKA. Optical Fiber-Tip Sensors Based on In-Situ µ-Printed Polymer Suspended-Microbeams.
Sensors (Basel) 2018;
18:s18061825. [PMID:
29874800 PMCID:
PMC6022165 DOI:
10.3390/s18061825]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2018] [Revised: 05/26/2018] [Accepted: 06/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Miniature optical fiber-tip sensors based on directly µ-printed polymer suspended-microbeams are presented. With an in-house optical 3D μ-printing technology, SU-8 suspended-microbeams are fabricated in situ to form Fabry–Pérot (FP) micro-interferometers on the end face of standard single-mode optical fiber. Optical reflection spectra of the fabricated FP micro-interferometers are measured and fast Fourier transform is applied to analyze the cavity of micro-interferometers. The applications of the optical fiber-tip sensors for refractive index (RI) sensing and pressure sensing, which showed 917.3 nm/RIU to RI change and 4.29 nm/MPa to pressure change, respectively, are demonstrated in the experiments. The sensors and their optical µ-printing method unveil a new strategy to integrate complicated microcomponents on optical fibers toward ‘lab-on-fiber’ devices and applications.
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