Sensitivity of a PMMA polymer capillary microresonator for measuring relative humidity.

Abstract

This paper studied experimentally the behavior of a capillary microresonator made from PMMA polymer as a sensor for measuring relative humidity. In the manufactured device, the WGMs modes within the microcavity are excited by the proximity of an optical fiber Taper made from the stretching of a standard optical fiber of silica by the method of scanning flame with waist of the order of 3-5 μm. In the device, the field from a tunable laser system TLS is coupled into the capillary along its cross section where the resonant modes were observed WGMs into the cavity. When the system is subjected to change of the relative humidity of the external environment, the wavelengths of peaks resonances of WGMS modes of the resonant system experience a spectral shift, so that a sensitivity of the microresonator is observed at changes in humidity of the external environment. During the experiment, it was manufactured capillaries with different diameters and different wall thickness obtaining a sensitivity of the order of 0.07 nm/% RH for a capillary thickness 42.1 μm.