We use distributed fiber optic strain sensing to examine swelling of the fiber’s polymer coating. The distributed sensing technique that uses unmodified low-cost telecom fibers opens a new dimension of applications that include leak detection, monitoring of water quality, and waste systems. On a short-range length scale, the technology enables “lab-on-a-fiber” applications for food processing, medicine, and biosensing for instance. The chemical sensing is realized with unmodified low-cost telecom optical fibers, namely, by using swelling in the coating material of the fiber to detect specific chemicals. Although generic and able to work in various areas such as environmental monitoring, food analysis, agriculture or security, the proposed chemical sensors can be targeted for water quality monitoring, or medical diagnostics where they present the most groundbreaking nature. Moreover, the technique is without restrictions applicable to longer range installations.

Optical trap, a circularly polarized laser beam can levitate and control the rotation of microspheres in liquid medium with high stiffness. Trapping force performs as confinement while the trapped particle can be analog to a liquid floated gyroscope with three degree-of-freedom. In this work, we analyzed the feasibility of applying optically levitated rotor in the system. We presented the dynamic analysis and simulation of an ellipsoid micron particle. The precession motion and nutation motion of a rotating ellipsoid probe particle in optical tweezers were performed. We also analyzed the attitude changes of an optically levitated ellipsoid when there was variation of the external torque caused by deviation of the incident light that was provided. Furthermore, the trail path of the rotational axis vertex and the stabilization process of a particle of different ellipticities were simulated. We compared the movement tendencies of particles of different shapes and analyzed the selection criteria of ellipsoid rotor. These analytical formulae and simulation results are applicable to the analysis of the rotational motion of particles in optical tweezers, especially to the future research of the gyroscope effect.

In this study, the patulin imprinted and the non-imprinted nanoparticles are synthesized by the two-phase mini emulsion polymerization method and characterized by zeta-size analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Afterwards, the patulin imprinted and the non-imprinted nanoparticles are attached on the surface of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) chips. The patulin imprinted and the non-imprinted SPR nanosensors are characterized by using atomic force microscope, ellipsometer, and contact angle measurements. Kinetic studies for patulin detection are carried out in the concentration range of 0.5 nmol – 750 nmol. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification values are obtained as 0.011 nmol and 0.036 nmol, respectively. In all kinetic analysis, the response time is 13 min for equilibration, adsorption, and desorption cycles. The selectivity studies of the patulin imprinted and the non-imprinted SPR nanosensors are determined in the presence of ochratoxin A and aflatoxin B1. In order to demonstrate the applicability, validation studies of the patulin imprinted SPR nanosensor are performed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS).

This paper presents an all-SiC fiber-optic Fabry-Perot (FP) pressure sensor based on the hydrophilic direct bonding technology for the applications in the harsh environment. The operating principle, fabrication, interface characteristics, and pressure response test of the proposed all-SiC pressure sensor are discussed. The FP cavity is formed by hermetically direct bonding of two-layer SiC wafers, including a thinned SiC diaphragm and a SiC wafer with an etched cavity. White light interference is used for the detection and demodulation of the sensor pressure signals. Experimental results demonstrate the sensing capabilities for the pressure range up to 800 kPa. The all-SiC structure without any intermediate layer can avoid the sensor failure caused by the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch and therefore has a great potential for pressure measurement in high temperature environments.

Regarding the dependence of the treatment of removing polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) from graphene upon the prestress in the film, two typical PMMA removal methods including acetone-vaporing and high-temperature annealing were investigated based on the opto-mechanical behaviors of the developed optical fiber Fabry-Perot (F-P) resonant sensor with a 125-μm diameter and ~10-layer-thickness graphene diaphragm. The measured resonant responses showed that the F-P sensor via annealing process exhibited the resonant frequency of 481 kHz and quality factor of 1 034 at ~2 Pa and room temperature, which are respectively 2.5 times and 33 times larger than the acetone-treated sensor. Moreover, the former achieved a high sensitivity of 110.4 kHz/kPa in the tested range of 2 Pa–2.5 kPa, apparently superior to the sensitivity of 16.2 kHz/kPa obtained in the latter. However, the time drift of resonant frequency also mostly tended to occur in the annealed sensor, thereby shedding light on the opto-mechanical characteristics of graphene-based F-P resonant sensors, along with an optimized optical excitation and detection scheme.

A novel nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CDs) were prepared by the microwave irradiation method. The fluorescence quenching effect of Co(II) on the N-CDs was studied in the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) medium and the fluorescence quenching was sensitized in the SDS. The linear range of calibration curve for the determination of Co(II) was 0.17 μg/mL–11.8 μg/mL and the limit of detection was 0.052 μg/mL. The method has been applied for the determination of Co(II) in samples with satisfactory results.

A high-sensitive numerical measurement of methane based on the combined use of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and Fano resonance in a slotted metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) periodic structure is numerically investigated. A groove is etched in an original MDM structure to excite the diploe mode at both sides of the groove, and the coherent coupling of two dipole modes is enhanced to realize a fast response, which is beneficial to gas-sensing. The influence of geometric parameters on the reflection spectra and methane sensitivity are analyzed to obtain optimal geometry. Moreover, an etching ring is introduced on the top metal to further raise the coupling area and coupling strength. The Fano resonance is subtly integrated into the optimized structure with asymmetry to achieve greater gas sensitivity. After the introduction of the Fano resonance, the field enhancement caused by the LSPR effect becomes greater and the methane sensitivity can reach up to 8.421 nm/% in numerical calculations, which increases 56.8% more than that of the original one. The combined use of the LSPR and Fano resonance in an optimized MDM structure provides an effective method for high-sensitive gas detection.

In this paper, a sub-wavelength metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide structure is proposed by using a cross-shape rectangular cavity, of which wings are coupled with two rectangular cavities. Firstly, a cross-shape rectangular cavity is placed between the input and output MIM waveguides. According to the mutual interference between bright and dark modes, three Fano resonant peaks are generated. Secondly, by adding a rectangular cavity on the left wing of the cross shaped one, five asymmetric Fano resonance peaks are obtained. Thirdly, six asymmetric Fano resonance peaks are achieved after adding another cavity on the right wing. Finally, the finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) method and multimode interference coupled-mode theory (MICMT) are used to simulate and analyze the coupled plasmonic resonant system, respectively. The highest sensitivity of 1 000 nm/RIU is achieved.

Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array, consisting of a number of sensing units in a single optical fiber, can be practically applied in quasi-distributed sensing networks. Serious signal crosstalk occurring between large-serial of identical FBGs, however, has limited the further increase in the number of sensing units, thus restricting applications only for short-distance sensing networks. To reduce the signal crosstalk, we design two novel types of 10-kilometer-long FBG arrays with 10 000 equally spaced gratings, written on-line using a customized grating inscription system, which is affiliated to a drawing tower. Main factors causing signal crosstalk, such as spectral shadowing and multiple reflections, are firstly investigated in theory. Consistent with the theoretical findings, experimental results are proving that ultra-weak (the reflectivity of ~–40 dB) and multi-wavelength gratings of a number more than 10 000 can be readily identified, with satisfied low crosstalk. The maximum attenuation of grating signal and minimum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in a single-wavelength array are 10.69 dB and 5.62 dB, respectively. As a comparison, by increasing the number of central wavelengths to three, the attenuation can be effectively reduced to 5.54 dB and the minimum SNR has been improved to 8.14 dB. The current study significantly enhances the multiplexing capacity of FBG arrays and demonstrates promising potentials for establishing large-capacity quasi-distributed sensing networks.