Stability comparison between two optical refractometer techniques

Two optical fibre refractometers are presented; both measure the change in refractive index of an external medium via measurement of the reflectivity of an optical fibre tip. One application of this technology lies in detection of hydrogen using palladium coatings. The first refractometer uses a sin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. Conference series 2013-06, Vol.450 (1), p.12010-1
Main Authors: Chowdhury, S A, Chehura, E, Correia, R, Francis, D, Hodgkinson, J, Tatam, R P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beams (radiation)
Coatings
Drift
Optical fibers
Palladium
Physics
Reflectivity
Refractive index
Refractivity
Refractometers
Stability
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Summary:Two optical fibre refractometers are presented; both measure the change in refractive index of an external medium via measurement of the reflectivity of an optical fibre tip. One application of this technology lies in detection of hydrogen using palladium coatings. The first refractometer uses a single source with a probe and reference arm on separate optical fibres, while the second is a dual-wavelength system with a common path for probe and reference beam. We have characterised both systems to compare their sensitivity and long term stability to determine the most suitable configuration in terms of minimising drift and noise.
ISSN:1742-6588
1742-6596
DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/450/1/012010