Optical fiber sensors using luminescent probes located along an optical fiber in the cladding of this fiber are of great interest for monitoring physical and chemical properties in their environment. The interrogation of a luminophore with a short laser pulse propagating through the fiber core allows for the measurement of the location of these luminophores. To increase the spatial resolution of such a measurements and to measure multiple analytes and properties in a confined space, a crossed optical fiber sensing platform can be employed. Here we describe the application of this platform to measuring the concentration of dissolved oxygen. The sensor is based on luminescence quenching of a ruthenium complex immobilized in a highly crosslinked film and covalently attached to the optical fibers. Both luminescence-intensity and luminescence-lifetime changes of the sensor molecules in response to changes in the concentration of oxygen dissolved in water are reported. For luminescence-intensity measurements, a second adjacent sensor region is employed as reference to account for laser pulse energy fluctuations. Enhanced quenching response in water is demonstrated by the use of organically modified poly(ethylene glycol) precursors, which increase the hydrophobicity of the film surface.
A highly porous optical-fiber cladding was developed for evanescent-wave fiber sensors, which contains sensor molecules, maintains guiding conditions in the optical fiber, and is suitable for sensing in aqueous environments. To make the cladding material (a poly(ethylene) glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) polymer) highly porous, a microsphere templating strategy was employed. The resulting pore network increases transport of the target analyte to the sensor molecules located in the cladding, which improves the sensor response time. This was demonstrated using fluorescein-based pH sensor molecules, which were covalently attached to the cladding material. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the structure of the templated polymer and the large network of interconnected pores. Fluorescence measurements showed a tenfold improvement in the response time for the templated polymer and a reliable pH response over a pH range of five to nine with an estimated accuracy of 0.08 pH units.
ZnO thin films have been deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) from diethyl zinc and H2O vapor. The X-ray diffraction spectra showed a c-axis preferential growth in the (002) plane. The optical vibrational properties of deposited thin films ZnO were investigated using Raman scattering spectroscopy. The ALD ZnO thin films exhibited A1 and E2 optical phonons. A blue shift was found in the Raman peaks in ALD ZnO which is indicative of a compressive stress.
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