Abstract
In this work, we suggest the new concept of sensing elements—bulk waveguides (BWGs) fabricated by the laser direct writing technique inside porous glass (PG). BWGs in nanoporous materials are promising to be applied in the photonics and sensors industries. Such light-guiding components interrogate the internal conditions of nanoporous materials and are able to detect chemical or physical reactions occurring inside nanopores especially with small molecules, which represent a separate class for sensing technologies. After the writing step, PG plates are impregnated with the indicator—rhodamine 6G—which penetrates through the nanoporous framework to the BWG cladding. The experimental investigation proved the concept by measuring the spectral characteristics of an output signal. We have demonstrated that the BWG is sensitive to ethanol molecules captured by the nanoporous framework. The sensitivity of the peak shift in the fluorescence spectrum to the refractive index of the solution is quantified as 6250 ± 150 nm/RIU.
Highlights
Sensors are in great demand in the era of expanding human influence on Earth and in space [1]
When the porous glass (PG) sensor is placed in an environment with target molecules, the primary transducer converts the chemical reaction occurring in nanopores into a measurable optical signal, for example, the absorption of radiation from the light source at a certain spectral range
We propose a new configuration of a PG sensor based on the inscription of a three-dimensional micro-sized optical channel, namely bulk waveguide (BWG)
Summary
Sensors are in great demand in the era of expanding human influence on Earth and in space [1]. Recent years have demonstrated remarkable progress in the design and fabrication of optical porous glass (PG) sensors applied for monitoring and controlling different media and object parameters [7,9] Such sensors consist of three main parts: a light source, receiver, and primary transducer. Organic molecules such as rhodamine 6G react with ethanol molecules, whose presence red-shifts the fluorescence peak [15] This is the precise interrogation of chemical reactions occurring in the nanoporous framework that opens new ways for small molecules detection captured from fluids or gas phases.
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