Effect of Wet Etching of Arc-Induced Long-Period Gratings on Their Refractive Index Sensitivity

• Authors: M. Myśliwiec , J. Grochowski , K. Krogulski , P. Mikulic , W. Bock , M. Śmietana
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper presents highly refractive index sensitive operation of long-period gratings enhanced by wet etching of the fiber cladding. Long-period gratings with period of 283 μm were induced in Corning SMF28 optical fibre using electric arc technique. Then etching in hydrofluoric (HF) acid solution has been applied to improve operation of the sensor. Sensitivity improvement effect induced by fiber cladding reduction has been numerically simulated. The developed numerical model enables quick estimation of cladding thickness reduction essential to achieve dispersion turning point. At this point long-period gratings reaches maximum sensitivity to external medium refractive index. Simulation showed that dispersion turning point for this long-period grating is achieved by cladding thickness reduction of 1.7 μm. We obtained good simulation match with experimental results, where approximately the same thickness was etched. The refractive index sensitivity of the long-period grating-based sensor has been improved by factor of 5. Since long-period grating period is limited when using electric arc fabrication method, this physical limitation makes difficult achievement of dispersion turning point and reaching maximum sensitivity of the long-period grating. We show that sensitivity of electric arc induced long-period grating can be significantly improved by post processing techniques such as wet etching.

Keywords

EN

42.70.Ce; 42.79.Gn; 07.07.Df; 81.20.Fw

Discipline

• 42.70.Ce: Glasses, quartz
• 42.79.Gn: Optical waveguides and couplers(for fiber waveguides and waveguides in integrated optics, see 42.81.Qb and 42.82.Et, respectively)
• 07.07.Df: Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing
• 81.20.Fw: Sol-gel processing, precipitation(for reactions in sol-gels, see 82.33.Ln; for sol-gels as disperse system, see 82.70.Gg)

• Publisher: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 124
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 521-524

Dates

published

2013-09

Contributors

author

M. Myśliwiec

• Institute of Microelectronics and Optoelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland

author

J. Grochowski

• Institute of Microelectronics and Optoelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland

author

K. Krogulski

• Institute of Microelectronics and Optoelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland

author

P. Mikulic

• Centre de Recherche en Photonique, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 101 Rue St Jean Bosco, Pavillon Lucien Brault, Gatineau, Québec, J8X 3X7, Canada

author

W. Bock

• Centre de Recherche en Photonique, Université du Québec en Outaouais, 101 Rue St Jean Bosco, Pavillon Lucien Brault, Gatineau, Québec, J8X 3X7, Canada

author

M. Śmietana

• Institute of Microelectronics and Optoelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.124.521