The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

High sensitivity gas sensing using hollow core photonic bandgap fibres designed for operation at mid-IR wavelengths

High sensitivity gas sensing using hollow core photonic bandgap fibres designed for operation at mid-IR wavelengths
High sensitivity gas sensing using hollow core photonic bandgap fibres designed for operation at mid-IR wavelengths
High sensitivity gas detection is of great interest in the fields of security, medical diagnostics, and environmental and industrial monitoring. Optical absorption methods are well established and the use of fibre based devices has advantages in terms of small footprint, relatively low cost, immunity to electromagnetic interference and potential for distributed sensing; however, they generally suffer from poor sensitivity due to the difficulty of achieving an efficient spatial overlap with gas analytes. The use of Hollow Core Photonic Bandgap Fibres (HC-PBGFs), i.e. a special type of optical fibres that guide light in a hollow core through bandgap effects, enables an extremely efficient sensing platform due to close to 100% overlap between the light and gas in the hollow core and the possibility for long interaction lengths. Furthermore, HC-PBGFs can be designed to operate at mid-IR wavelengths, where conventional fibres cannot operate. We recently demonstrated HC-PBGFs with loss as low as 0.05dB/m at 3.3µm and more than 100nm 3dB transmission bandwidth [1]. The capability of accessing the mid-IR wavelengths is critical for gas sensing, as the fundamental vibrational transitions of many gas molecules (for instance those containing C-H, O-H, N-H groups) fall in this spectral region. By detecting the fundamental absorption bands as opposed to their much weaker overtones in the near IR often targeted by fibre based sensor systems, substantially higher sensitivity can be achieved [2]. Additionally, mid-IR HC-PBGFs have relative large core diameters (~50 µm), which is beneficial in allowing a comparatively faster gas filling and evacuation.
Chen, Yong
0bfb3083-4cd2-4463-a7a4-f48c4158b15a
Petrovich, M.N.
bfe895a0-da85-4a40-870a-2c7bfc84a4cf
Wheeler, N.V.
0fd34178-a77b-4c71-a3a6-86a1f634f1a0
Heidt, A.M.
18f56d74-848c-420c-9ece-715e3e94e97a
Baddela, N.K.
1a871ff8-f95d-495b-8b91-9d6ccd209528
Sandoghchi, S.R.
15499707-d3f2-42f1-90e2-cbe260462487
Poletti, F.
9adcef99-5558-4644-96d7-ce24b5897491
Richardson, D.J.
ebfe1ff9-d0c2-4e52-b7ae-c1b13bccdef3
Chen, Yong
0bfb3083-4cd2-4463-a7a4-f48c4158b15a
Petrovich, M.N.
bfe895a0-da85-4a40-870a-2c7bfc84a4cf
Wheeler, N.V.
0fd34178-a77b-4c71-a3a6-86a1f634f1a0
Heidt, A.M.
18f56d74-848c-420c-9ece-715e3e94e97a
Baddela, N.K.
1a871ff8-f95d-495b-8b91-9d6ccd209528
Sandoghchi, S.R.
15499707-d3f2-42f1-90e2-cbe260462487
Poletti, F.
9adcef99-5558-4644-96d7-ce24b5897491
Richardson, D.J.
ebfe1ff9-d0c2-4e52-b7ae-c1b13bccdef3

Chen, Yong, Petrovich, M.N., Wheeler, N.V., Heidt, A.M., Baddela, N.K., Sandoghchi, S.R., Poletti, F. and Richardson, D.J. (2014) High sensitivity gas sensing using hollow core photonic bandgap fibres designed for operation at mid-IR wavelengths. 3rd EPSRC Manufacturing the Future Conference, Glasgow, United Kingdom. 23 - 24 Sep 2014.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

High sensitivity gas detection is of great interest in the fields of security, medical diagnostics, and environmental and industrial monitoring. Optical absorption methods are well established and the use of fibre based devices has advantages in terms of small footprint, relatively low cost, immunity to electromagnetic interference and potential for distributed sensing; however, they generally suffer from poor sensitivity due to the difficulty of achieving an efficient spatial overlap with gas analytes. The use of Hollow Core Photonic Bandgap Fibres (HC-PBGFs), i.e. a special type of optical fibres that guide light in a hollow core through bandgap effects, enables an extremely efficient sensing platform due to close to 100% overlap between the light and gas in the hollow core and the possibility for long interaction lengths. Furthermore, HC-PBGFs can be designed to operate at mid-IR wavelengths, where conventional fibres cannot operate. We recently demonstrated HC-PBGFs with loss as low as 0.05dB/m at 3.3µm and more than 100nm 3dB transmission bandwidth [1]. The capability of accessing the mid-IR wavelengths is critical for gas sensing, as the fundamental vibrational transitions of many gas molecules (for instance those containing C-H, O-H, N-H groups) fall in this spectral region. By detecting the fundamental absorption bands as opposed to their much weaker overtones in the near IR often targeted by fibre based sensor systems, substantially higher sensitivity can be achieved [2]. Additionally, mid-IR HC-PBGFs have relative large core diameters (~50 µm), which is beneficial in allowing a comparatively faster gas filling and evacuation.

Text
6731.pdf - Other
Download (284kB)

More information

e-pub ahead of print date: September 2014
Venue - Dates: 3rd EPSRC Manufacturing the Future Conference, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2014-09-23 - 2014-09-24
Organisations: Optoelectronics Research Centre

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 375277
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/375277
PURE UUID: a5be3c99-9880-411d-b2c3-815a668e7c57
ORCID for Yong Chen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0383-6113
ORCID for M.N. Petrovich: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3905-5901
ORCID for N.V. Wheeler: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1265-9510
ORCID for S.R. Sandoghchi: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2196-3167
ORCID for F. Poletti: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1000-3083
ORCID for D.J. Richardson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7751-1058

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 18 Mar 2015 16:03
Last modified: 23 Mar 2024 02:47

Export record

Contributors

Author: Yong Chen ORCID iD
Author: M.N. Petrovich ORCID iD
Author: N.V. Wheeler ORCID iD
Author: A.M. Heidt
Author: N.K. Baddela
Author: S.R. Sandoghchi ORCID iD
Author: F. Poletti ORCID iD
Author: D.J. Richardson ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×