Reflective Properties of a Polymer Micro-Transducer for an Optical Fiber Refractive Index Sensor

A polymer microtip manufactured at the end of a multi-mode optical fiber by using the photopolymerization process offers good reflective properties, therefore, it is applicable as an optical fiber sensor micro-transducer. The reflective properties of this microelement depend on the monomer mixture used, optical fiber type, and light source initiating polymerization. Experimental results have shown that a proper selection of these parameters has allowed the design of a new class of sensing structure which is sensitive to the refractive index (RI) changes of a liquid medium surrounding the microtip. An optical backscatter reflectometer was applied to test a group of micro-transducers. They were manufactured from two monomer mixtures on three different types of multi-mode optical fibers. They were polymerized by means of three optical light sources. Selected micro-transducers with optimal geometries were immersed in reference liquids with a known RI within the range of 1.3–1.7. For a few sensors, the linear dependences of return loss and RI have been found. The highest sensitivity was of around 208 dB/RIU with dynamic 32 dB within the range of 1.35–1.48. Sensing characteristics have minima close to RI of a polymer microelement, therefore, changing its RI can give the possibility to tune sensing properties of this type of sensor.