Photonic crystal fibers are usually divided into two different types of fibers: solid-core photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) and air-core photonic bandgaps fibers (PBFs). We presented the fabrication methods and applications of long period fiber gratings (LPFGs) written in these two types of photonic crystal fibers by use of a CO2 laser. A stain sensor with a high sensitivity was demonstrated by use of an LPFG written in solid-core PCFs. An in-fiber polarizer based on an LPFG was fabricated by use of a focused CO2 laser beam to notch periodically on a PCF. A novel LPFG was written in an air-core PBF by use of a CO2 laser to collapse periodically air holes in the fiber cladding.

Optical fiber based SPR sensors have attracted more and more attention due to their unique advantages over the prism-based SPR sensors. A novel fiber-optic SPR sensor with multi-alternating metal layers for biochemical analysis is presented in this paper. Based on the fundamental SPR theory of the fiber optic sensing technology, we theoretically investigated the effects of the existence of alternating layers deposited on sensing region SPR wavelength changes. The emphasis was placed on the numerical simulation of the fiber-optic SPR sensor’s sensitivity which could be affected by its technical parameters such as the metal thickness, number of alternating layers. Results showed that, compared to the normal SPR sensor with the single metal layer, the proposed sensor had a wider detecting range of the refractive index and higher sensitivity, which can find applications in biological analysis.

We report on a fast and sensitive temperature sensor using a micro-structured or photonic crystal fiber interferometer with a high germanium doped fiber core. The wavelength sensitivity for temperature variation was as high as Δλ/ΔΤ= 78 pm/℃ up to 500 ℃, which was 6 times more sensitive than the fiber Bragg grating temperature sensitivity of Δλ/ΔΤ= 13 pm/℃ at 1550 nm. The sensor device was investigated concerning the sensitivity characteristics and response time.

Three fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors systems for hydrogen detection are presented using the classic Pd (palladium) coating technique (500 nm) as the hydrogen sensitive film and titanium (Ti) as the adhesive layer with the etched cladding. These systems are compared and used for disaster environment prevention in hydrogen leakage environment where higher values than the normal are presented which increase the risk of explosion. With these systems, 0.1% - 4% of the hydrogen volume concentration range in the volume ratio was detected and monitored experimentally in the test room with the very sensitive and stable value which reached 60 pm/1% H2. In addition, a fast response time, about 6 s, was obtained with an advanced sensor.

The optical characteristics of a simple, planar, single layer, dielectric Mg-based guided mode resonance filter (GMRF) were investigated by means of rigorous-coupled wave analysis (RCWA). This filter has great potential for real-life applications, especially as bio- and environmental sensors. The structure of the proposed sensor is compact, and all of its layers can be grown in a single process. In this paper, we present results on the design of a water pollution sensor in the violet region of the visible spectrum. The spectral and angular sensitivities of the sensor for both the transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarization modes were estimated and compared for various regions in the violet spectrum. A spectral response characterized with a narrow bandwidth and low reflection side bands was realized by carrying out extensive parameter search and optimization. Optimal spectral and angular sensitivities were found for the sensor with a grating thickness of 100 nm in the TM polarized mode where we found them to be 100 nm and 40 degrees, per index refraction unit, respectively.

In this paper, we design and characterize a novel small size four-channel biosensor based on the two-dimensional photonic crystal with introducing waveguides and nano-cavities in the hexagonal lattice of air pores in the silicon slab. By removing a group of air pores, waveguides are achieved, and nano-cavities are shaped by modifying the radius of air pores. Highly parallel operation of this biosensor due to the special architecture is the capability of the designed structure. The biomaterials which are suspended in a liquid medium inside nano-cavities cause effective refractive index changes which lead to the resonant wavelength shift in the output terminal. According to results, with increasing the refractive index of nano-cavities, resonant wavelengths shifts to longer values. For biochemical sensing like DNA molecule and protein and for the refractive index detection, this novel designed biosensor can be utilized.

The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensor is used in the oil and gas derricks for the health monitoring. The system consisted of the FBG strain sensors, optical interrogator and monitoring software. 64 sensors were installed on a derrick for loading and unloading tests. The results showed that the monitoring system had the advantages of the high accuracy, good repeatability, large capacity and real-time monitoring ability.

An interferometer based optical sensor for displacement measurement is reported. This method requires quite simple signal processing as well as least electronic components. Referring to this technique, two photodiodes spatially shifted by 90 degrees were used. The output of photodiodes was converted into rectangular signals which were extracted in LabVIEW using the data acquisition card without using an analog to digital converters (ADC). We have also processed the signals in C++ after acquiring via parallel port. A Michelson interferometer configuration was used to produce linear fringes for the detection of displacements. The displacement less than 100 nm could be measured using this technique.

The transmission properties of hybrid quasi-periodic photonic systems (HQPS) made by the combination of one-dimensional periodic photonic crystals (PPCs) and quasi-periodic photonic crystals (QPCs) were theoretically studied. The hybrid quasi-periodic photonic lattice based on the hetero-structures was built from the Fibonacci and Thue-Morse sequences. We addressed the microwave properties of waves through the one-dimensional symmetric Fibonacci, and Thue-Morse system i.e., a quasi-periodic structure was made up of two different dielectric materials (Rogers and air), in the quarter wavelength condition. It shows that controlling the Fibonacci parameters permits to obtain selective optical filters with the narrow passband and polychromatic stop band filters with varied properties which can be controlled as desired. From the results, we presented the self-similar features of the spectra, and we also presented the fractal process through a return map of the transmission coefficients. We extracted powerfully the band gaps of hybrid quasi-periodic multilayered structures, called “pseudo band gaps”, often containing resonant states, which could be considered as a manifestation of numerous defects distributed along the structure. The results of transmittance spectra showed that the cutoff frequency could be manipulated through the thicknesses of the defects and the type of dielectric layers of the system. Taken together, the above two properties provide favorable conditions for the design of an all-microwave intermediate reflector.

The influence of the wavelength dispersion on the temperature accuracy of the Raman distributed temperature sensor system (RDTS) is analyzed in detail, and a simple correction algorithm is proposed to compensate the fiber position error caused by the wavelength dispersion. The principle of the proposed algorithm is described theoretically, and the correction on each point along the entire fiber is realized. Temperature simulation results validate that the temperature distortion is corrected and the temperature accuracy is effectively improved from ±5 ℃ to ±1 ℃.

A singlemode-multimode-singlemode (SMS) fiber structure for temperature measurement using an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR)-based interrogation system is proposed. A temperature measurement range of 40 ℃-195 ℃ with a resolution of 0.12 ℃ and a linearity of 0.992 could be achieved for the multimode fiber (MMF) graded index with a length of 60 mm. It was also demonstrated that two-point temperature measurement with two SMS fiber structures as temperature sensors could be made. The proposed temperature measurement system offered a high resolution and also benefited from a simple configuration with a capability of multi-point temperature measurement.

For the health monitoring of the offshore drilling platform in the salt-fog environment, three nonmetallic materials, i.e., silica, FR-4 epoxy board and sheet molding compound (SMC), with the good anti-corrosion ability were chosen as the packaging materials for the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors. By selecting a highly sensitive structure of the fiber Bragg grating strain sensor, the performances of the sensors with three materials were investigated both numerically and experimentally. The strain sensitivities were 3.76 pm/με, 3.02 pm/με and 3.03 pm/με, respectively. The linearity was better than 0.998. It provides useful information for developing sensors for the marine engineering.

This paper presents an innovative and low-cost approach for nondestructive fruit quality analysis. The specialized optical fiber sensor developed and presented in this paper used a monochromatic wavelength, rather than a broad spectrum, to measure the intact carambola (star fruit) intrinsic quality, namely pH and firmness. The main objective of this research was to investigate the two optical fiber sensors used in this work, namely, the optical fiber red system (OF-RS) that operated with the peak sensitivity at 635 nm and the optical fiber near the infrared spectroscopy system (OF-NIRS) that operated with the peak sensitivity at 880 nm. Both systems showed good accuracy in the pH and firmness measurement of the intact carambola with the correlation coefficient R over 0.75, and the measurement results were comparable with those of the commercial spectrometer. The best measurement results were obtained using OF-RS (pH: R = 0.876; the root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.211 pH; firmness: R = 0.872; RMSE = 0.909 kgf).

The development of two simple methods for wavelength-optical intensity modulation techniques for fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors is presented. The performance is evaluated by measuring the strain and temperature. The first method consists of a narrow band source, an optical circulator, an FBG, and a power meter. The source and Bragg reflected signal from the FBG need to be matched to get linear results with good power levels. The source spectral power levels are very critical in this study. The power reflected from a matched reference FBG is fed into the measuring FBG in the second method. Since the FBGs are matched, the entire power is reflected back initially. During the measurement, the change in the measurand causes the reflected power from the sensing FBG to vary. A costly high resolution spectrum analyzer is required only during the characterization of the FBG and source. The performances of two interrogators are compared by measuring the strain and temperature. In the second method, the strain measurements can be made insensitive to the temperature variation by selecting a source with a flat spectrum at the measurement range. Highlights of these methods are the portability, cost effectiveness and better resolution.