Development of erbium-doped silica sensor probe for fiber-optic fluorescence thermometer

Abstract

A fabrication process of the erbium (Er)-doped silica sensor probe, in which the sensor head is directly coupled with silica glass fiber, has been developed for the fiber-optic thermometer application. In this fabrication process, a droplet of slurry of Er-doped silica powders are formed on the end of the silica glass fiber, and are dried, sintered, and then melted and solidified in a LPG-O2 gas furnace. The temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) lifetime from the Er-doped silica senor probe with various dopant concentrations has been evaluated for the fiber-optic thermometer application. An Er-doped silica sensor probe with an Er density above 10000ppm and aluminum (Al) content about Al∕Er=20 is considered to be suitable for a fiber-optic thermometer because of the strong PL intensity and long PL lifetime. The PL lifetimes of the Er sensor head decreases from 9.9msto8.1ms at temperatures from 273Kto473K. An Er-doped silica sensor probe, which is fabricated by a modified process, is considered to be potentially useful for a fiber-optic fluorescence thermometer.