High sensitivity humidity sensor based on cladding-etched optical fiber and lossy mode resonances

•A cladding-etched optical fiber humidity sensor is proposed.•The sensor is simple to fabricate, reproducible and with high sensitivity.•Sensitivity of LMRs overcome the sensitivity of others devices.•The structure developed here can be used to generate sensors in multiple application fields. In thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Chemical, 2016-10, Vol.233, p.7-16
Main Authors: Ascorbe, J., Corres, J.M., Matias, I.R., Arregui, F.J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuators
Cladding-etched single mode optical fiber
Coating
Humidity
Lossy mode resonances
Optical fiber humidity sensor
Optical fibers
Relative humidity
Sensors
Thin films
Tin dioxide
Tin oxide
Tin oxides
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Summary:•A cladding-etched optical fiber humidity sensor is proposed.•The sensor is simple to fabricate, reproducible and with high sensitivity.•Sensitivity of LMRs overcome the sensitivity of others devices.•The structure developed here can be used to generate sensors in multiple application fields. In this work a high sensitivity optical fiber humidity sensor (OFHS) is presented. The configuration chosen for this purpose is a cladding-etched single mode optical fiber (CE-SMF) coated with a thin film of tin oxide (SnO2). The etching has been made using hydrofluoric acid (HF) and the coating has been fabricated by means of sputtering. Tin oxide was used to build the nano-coating which produces the Lossy Mode Resonance (LMR) and works as sensitive material. Theoretical and experimental results are shown and compared. The device was tested using a climatic chamber in order to obtain the response of the OFHS to relative humidity. Changes greater than 130nm have been obtained for relative humidity varying from 20% to 90%, which gives a sensitivity of 1.9nm/%RH.
ISSN:0925-4005
1873-3077
DOI:10.1016/j.snb.2016.04.045