Air Pressure Sensing of Antiresonant Hollow Fiber

The anti-resonant fiber includes a series of optical fibers based on anti-resonance mechanism such as Bragg fiber, photonic crystal fiber, Kagomé fiber and negative curvature hollow fiber. The light guide mechanism can be interpreted as using the high refractive index fiber layer as a FP resonator. When the light wavelength satisfies the resonance condition of this FP cavity, the high refractive index layer is resonated; when the light wavelength is far away from the resonant wavelength, the light will be reflected by the FP cavity so as to be confined in the low refractive index layer and follow the Spread axially forward. In recent years, there are many reports about hollow optical fibers. There are many reports about their applications in terahertz wave transmission and infrared waveguides. However, based on hollow fiber anti-resonance mechanism, there are few reports on the production of sensors. At present, the experiment is to hollow core optical fiber coating, coated with a functional film, which will be used for sensing. Such as air-core fiber coated with a layer of graphene oxide, used to detect changes in humidity, or hollow fiber coated with a layer of magnetic colloids for magnetic field sensing. The coating adds an additional process, increasing the complexity of the device, at the same time as the optical surface of the arc structure and the coated material and the different optical fiber materials, reducing the stability and reliability of the device. The ultra-fast laser research team led by Prof. Lu Peixiang of Wuhan National Optoelectronic Laboratory recently developed a barometric pressure sensor using anti-resonance hollow-core optical fiber. The production of the sensor using femtosecond laser micro-machining technology, a hollow fiber core drilling process, making the outside air pressure can change the hollow fiber core internal refractive index. The sensor structure is simple, easy to manufacture. And the device has high pressure sensitivity, while very low detection limit, so the sensor device has a strong practical potential. This work "Antiresonant-supporting guidance mechanism in hollow-core fiber for gas pressure sensing", Nov. 28, 2016, is published in Opt. Express Vol. 24, No. 24, 27890 (2016). The research work of this project was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61138006). (A) Schematic diagram of sensor structure, (b) and (c) Lateral and end view of femtosecond laser drilling, (d) Spectral spectra of sensor femtosecond laser drilling with hollow fiber length of 5 mm.