Design and operation of an evanescent optical fiber sensor

Abstract

Design and operation of an optical fiber sensor based on the intensity modulation is reported in this article. Two distinct mechanisms are considered for the optical power loss and the sensor operation is explained in terms of these effects. The dominant loss mechanism is found to be the evanescent loss and based on this phenomenon the optical fiber sensor is designed. Performance of this sensor is tested as a liquid level sensor for water and the experimental results are reported. The dry and wet signals for this probe are measured for a series of measurements and important factors concerning the design and operation of sensor are described. The precision of measured values, reproducibility of the results, and the stability of sensing operation as a function of time are reported. Variation of the output reading of the sensor system for different launching power is also investigated. The output signal of an optical fiber sensor in general is nonlinear, but both the signal difference (dry minus wet) and diff/dry signal ratio for the reported sensor show linear dependence with the launching power at intensities below threshold. The reported results are promising and verify the successful operation of such a device as an on/off level switch and also as a liquid level sensor.