湿腐蚀法制备塑料光纤折射率传感器

Wet Etching Technique for Fabrication of Plastic Optical Fiber Refractive Index Sensor

为了获得高灵敏度的塑料光纤折射率传感器,提出了一种湿腐蚀制备塑料光纤传感器的方法。首先利用三氯甲烷和无水乙醇配制了塑料光纤腐蚀剂;接着研究了腐蚀剂浓度、温度对塑料光纤腐蚀速率及腐蚀后表面形貌的影响;然后研究了传感器经不同浓度和不同温度腐蚀剂腐蚀后的传输光谱特性;最后利用葡萄糖溶液测试了经过不同腐蚀条件腐蚀后的传感器灵敏度。实验结果表明,光纤的腐蚀速率随着腐蚀剂浓度和温度的升高而增大;光纤腐蚀后的表面形貌、光谱传输特性及传感器灵敏度受腐蚀条件影响显著;当腐蚀剂温度为20℃、浓度为70%时,可以获得光滑、干净的腐蚀光纤表面,此时传感器具有较好的光谱传输质量,同时传感器的灵敏度达到3.8[(RIU)]-1。

In this study,a simple wet etching technique is developed for the fabrication of a high-sensitivity plastic optical fiber（POF）refractive index sensor.Firstly,the etchant was prepared by employing the chloroform and anhydrous ethanol.Secondly,the effects of the concentration and temperature of the etchant on the etching rate and surface morphology of the POFs were investigated,and the transmission spectrum of the etched POF sensors was examined.Thirdly,the sensitivity of the etched POF sensors was checked by using the glucose solutions.The experimental results show that the etching rate of the POFs increases with increasing of the etchant＇s concentration and temperature.The surface morphology,transmission spectrum and sensitivity of the etched POF were significantly affected by the etching conditions,in particular,the POF sensors,which are fabricated using the etchant with a concentration of70% under temperature of 20 ℃,exhibiting good light transmission and a high sensitivity of3.8[（RIU）]^-1 in the glucose solutions.