Experiment of Optical Response Characteristics of Plastic Optical Fibers under Shear and Torsion Loading

The paper analyzes the feasibility of cost-effective fiber sensors for the measurement of small vibrations, from low to medium-high frequencies, in which the complexity of the measurement is moved from expensive optics to cheap electronics without losing too much performance thanks to signal processing algorithms. Two optical approaches are considered: Bragg gratings in standard telecom fibers, which represent the most common type of commercial fiber sensors, and specifically developed sensors made with plastic optical fibers. In both cases, to keep the overall cost low, vibrations are converted into variations of the light intensity, although this makes the received signal more sensitive to noise. Then, adaptive filters and advanced spectral estimation techniques are used to mitigate noise and improve the sensitivity. Preliminary results have demonstrated that the combined effect of these techniques can yield to a signal-to-noise improvement of about 30 dB, bringing the proposed approaches to the level of the most performing sensors for the measurement of vibrations.

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A Nanoplasmonic-Based Biosensing Approach for Wide-Range and Highly Sensitive Detection of Chemicals

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano11081961 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 1961

Author(s):

Francesco Arcadio ◽

Luigi Zeni ◽

Aldo Minardo ◽

Caterina Eramo ◽

Stefania Di Di Ronza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Optical Fibers ◽

Limit Of Detection ◽

Slab Waveguide ◽

Grating Pattern ◽

Transparent Substrate ◽

Synthetic Receptor ◽

Sensing Applications ◽

Wide Range ◽

Plastic Optical Fibers ◽

Highly Sensitive Detection

In a specific biosensing application, a nanoplasmonic sensor chip has been tested by an experimental setup based on an aluminum holder and two plastic optical fibers used to illuminate and collect the transmitted light. The studied plasmonic probe is based on gold nanograting, realized on the top of a Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) chip. The PMMA substrate could be considered as a transparent substrate and, in such a way, it has been already used in previous work. Alternatively, here it is regarded as a slab waveguide. In particular, we have deposited upon the slab surface, covered with a nanograting, a synthetic receptor specific for bovine serum albumin (BSA), to test the proposed biosensing approach. Exploiting this different experimental configuration, we have determined how the orientation of the nanostripes forming the grating pattern, with respect to the direction of the input light (longitudinal or orthogonal), influences the biosensing performances. For example, the best limit of detection (LOD) in the BSA detection that has been obtained is equal to 23 pM. Specifically, the longitudinal configuration is characterized by two observable plasmonic phenomena, each sensitive to a different BSA concentration range, ranging from pM to µM. This aspect plays a key role in several biochemical sensing applications, where a wide working range is required.

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Shaping Beam Profiles Using Plastic Optical Fiber Tapers with Application to Ice Sensors

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s20092503 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (9) ◽

pp. 2503

Author(s):

Kostas Amoiropoulos ◽

Georgia Kioselaki ◽

Nikolaos Kourkoumelis ◽

Aris Ikiades

Keyword(s):

Fiber Optics ◽

Optical Fibers ◽

Laser Cooling ◽

Detection Efficiency ◽

Numerical Aperture ◽

Beam Profile ◽

Hollow Beam ◽

Enhanced Sensitivity ◽

Surface Irregularities ◽

Plastic Optical Fibers

Using either bulk or fiber optics the profile of laser beams can be altered from Gaussian to top-hat or hollow beams allowing enhanced performance in applications like laser cooling, optical trapping, and fiber sensing. Here, we report a method based on multimode Plastic Optical Fibers (POF) long-tapers, to tweak the beam profile from near Gaussian to a hollow beam, by generating surface irregularities on the conical sections of the taper with a heat-and-pull technique. Furthermore, a cutback technique applied on long tapers expanded the output beam profile by more than twice the numerical aperture (NA) of the fiber. The enhanced sensitivity and detection efficiency of the extended profile was tested on a fiber optical ice sensor related to aviation safety.

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High-speed plastic optical fibers and their simple interconnects for 4K/8K video transmission

2015 European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) ◽

10.1109/ecoc.2015.7341923 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Y. Koike ◽

A. Inoue

Keyword(s):

Optical Fibers ◽

High Speed ◽

Video Transmission ◽

Plastic Optical Fibers

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Polarimetry of plastic optical fibers

10.1117/12.446615 ◽

2001 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Joseba Zubia ◽

Gaizaka Durana ◽

Jon Arrue ◽

I. Garces ◽

Manuel Lopez-Amo

Keyword(s):

Optical Fibers ◽

Plastic Optical Fibers

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Fabrication of Lensed Plastic Optical Fiber Array Using Electrostatic Force

Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.4004204 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 133 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yih-Tun Tseng ◽

Jhong-Bin Huang ◽

Che-Hsin Lin ◽

Chin-Lung Chen ◽

Wood-Hi Cheng

Keyword(s):

Optical Fiber ◽

Optical Fibers ◽

Electrostatic Force ◽

Coupling Efficiency ◽

Numerical Aperture ◽

Uv Curing ◽

Power Budget ◽

Fiber Array ◽

Plastic Optical Fibers ◽

Efficient Coupling

The GI (graded-index) POFs (Plastic optical fibers), which has been proven to reach distances as long as 1 km at 1.25 Gb/s has a relatively low numerical aperture . Therefore, the efficient coupling of GI POFs to the light source has become critical to the power budget in the system. Efficient coupling for a POFs system normally involves either a separate lens or the direct formation of the lens at the end of the fiber. Forming the lens-like structure directly on the fiber end is preferred for simplicity of fabrication and packaging, such as polishing and fusion, combine different fibers with the cascaded fiber method and hydroflouride (HF) chemical etching. These approaches are well established, but applicable only to glass. Optical assembly architecture for multichannel fibers and optical devices is critical to optical fiber interconnections. Multichannel fiber-pigtail laser diode (LD) modules have potential for supporting higher data throughput and longer transmission distances. However, to be of practical use, these modules must be more precise. This work proposes and manufactures lensed plastic optical fibers (LPOF) array. This novel manipulation can be utilized to fabricate an aspherical lens on a fiber array after the UV curing of the photo-sensitive polymer; the coupling efficiency (CE) is increased and exceeds 47% between the LD array and the fiber array.

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