Sapphire Fiber Research Articles

Sapphire fiber Bragg gratings array demodulated with the multi-peak auto-tracking algorithm for quasi-distributed high-temperature measurement

Sapphire fiber Bragg gratings array demodulated with the multi-peak auto-tracking algorithm for quasi-distributed high-temperature measurement

Cascaded Fabry-Perot cavity and fiber Bragg grating on sapphire fibers for high-temperature strain sensing

High-temperature strain sensors are key elements for several applications. Key issues of the existing devices include the difficulties of sensor operating above 1000°C as well as the very strong thermal effect under high temperatures introducing significant bias on the strain measurement. Here we developed a cascaded Fabry-Perot cavity and fiber Bragg grating strain sensor fully integrated on sapphire fibers, permitting a sufficient temperature compensation and strain measurement up to 1150°C temperature. A three-point adhesive bonding process is proposed to greatly improve the adhesion performance, and hence the robustness of the device at high temperatures. Experimental results show that the fabricated strain sensor can achieve a measurement range of ±1000 με at temperature up to 1150°C. The experimental results show that the measurement accuracy is not more than 5% at room temperature. the measurement accuracy is significantly decreased at high temperature, and the maximum strain measurement error is 14% at 1150°C.

Sapphire optical fiber with (BN/SiBCN)n coating prepared by chemical vapor deposition for high-temperature sensing applications

To enhance the load-bearing capacity of sapphire optical fiber (SOF) in extreme environments, this study prepared SOF/(BN/SiBCN)n by optimizing the nanostructure through increased deposition temperature of BN using alternating chemical vapor deposition. Simulation results indicated an inverse correlation between the leakage loss of SOF/BN/SiBCN and BN thickness; at room temperature, the tendency for coating cracking along the radial direction of SOF/BN/SiBCN is positively correlated with BN thickness, whereas this trend reverses at 1500 °C. Mechanical testing revealed that the tensile strength of SOF/BN/SiBCN is inversely correlated with the tendency for interlayer cracking, aligning with the findings from residual stress simulations; under an air environment at 1500 °C, SOF/(BN/SiBCN)2 exhibited the highest tensile strength, indicating that the layered matrix design effectively mitigates the risk of BN oxidation by creating barrier layers. Optical test demonstrated that the BN coating functions as a total reflection layer to suppress the scattering of optical signals on the sapphire optical fiber surface. In conclusion, the coating design of SOF/(BN/SiBCN)n could meet the material requirements for sapphire optical fiber sensors in extreme environments.

Microwave photonics demodulation based on a fiber loop and a virtual Fabry-Perot interferometer for sapphire fiber temperature sensors

Microwave photonics demodulation based on a fiber loop and a virtual Fabry-Perot interferometer for sapphire fiber temperature sensors

Analysis of the Sapphire Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometer Fringe Visibility under Different Excitation Conditions

In this paper, a theoretical analysis of how the excitation conditions affect the sapphire fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (SFPI) visibility was performed. The conditions were considered, in which an SFPI was excited by a single-mode fiber (SMF), a multimode fiber (MMF), and a fiber collimator. The finite difference method (FDM) was used to realize the numerical solution of the modal electric fields, and then, the modal excited distributions in the sapphire fiber and the SFPI visibility were calculated. The results showed that different numbers of modes were excited in sapphire fibers under different excitation conditions and finally affected the fringe visibility of the SFPI. The fiber collimator excited the fewest modes and the visibility remained at the highest level. Finally, an experiment was performed, and the experimental results agreed well with the theoretical results.

All-sapphire fiber-optic sensor for the simultaneous measurement of ultra-high temperature and high pressure

An all-sapphire fiber-optic extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) sensor for the simultaneous measurement of ultra-high temperature and high pressure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensor is fabricated based on all-sapphire, including a sapphire fiber, a sapphire capillary and a sapphire wafer. A femtosecond (fs) laser is employed to drill a through hole at the side wall of the sapphire capillary to allow gas flow. The sapphire fiber is inserted from one side of the sapphire capillary. The sapphire wafer is fixed at the other side of the sapphire capillary. The first Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity, composed of the end face of the sapphire fiber and the front surface of the sapphire wafer, is used for measuring pressure, while the second FP cavity, composed of the two surfaces of the sapphire wafer, is used for measuring temperature. Experimental results show that the sensor can simultaneously measure ultra-high temperature and gas pressure within the temperature range of 20 - 1400 °C and the pressure range of 0 - 5 MPa. The temperature sensitivity is 0.0033 µm/°C, and the pressure sensitivity decreases as the temperature increases, reaching 1.8016 µm/MPa and 0.3253 µm/MPa at temperatures of 20 °C and 1400 °C, respectively.

Fast and robust demodulation of temperature from sparse sapphire fiber Bragg grating spectra with machine learning

Sapphire fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have demonstrated their efficacy in sensing at high-temperature harsh environments owing to their elevated melting point and outstanding stability. However, due to the extremely high volume of modes supported by the clad-less sapphire fiber, the demodulation capability of the reflected spectra is hindered due to their irregular and somewhat complicated shapes. Hence, a mode-stripping or scrambling step is typically employed beforehand, albeit at the expense of sensor robustness. Additionally, conventional interrogation of sapphire FBG sensors relies on an optical spectrum analyzer due to the high sensitivity provided by the spectrum analyzer, where the long data acquisition time restricts the system from detecting instantaneous temperature variations. In this study, we present a simple sensor configuration by directly butt-coupling the sapphire FBG multi-mode lead-out fiber to a single-mode lead-in fiber, and detect its reflected spectra via a low-cost, fast, and coarsely resolved (166 pm) spectrometer. We leverage machine learning to compensate for the under-sampling of the measured FBG spectra and achieve a temperature accuracy of 0.23 °C at a high data acquisition rate of 5 kHz (limited by the spectrometer). This represents a tenfold improvement in accuracy compared to conventional peak-searching and curve-fitting methods, as well as a significant enhancement in measurement speed that enables dynamic sensing. We further assess the robustness of our sensor by attaching one side of the sensor to a vibrator and still observe good performance (0.43 °C) even under strong shaking conditions. The introduced demodulation technology opens up opportunities for the broader use of sapphire FBG sensors in noisy and high-temperature harsh environments.

Characterization of High-Temperature Performance of a Sapphire Fiber Bragg Grating With a Single-Mode Demodulation System

Characterization of High-Temperature Performance of a Sapphire Fiber Bragg Grating With a Single-Mode Demodulation System

Enhanced terahertz emission in a large-area photoconductive antenna through an array of tightly packed sapphire fibers

Experimental observation of the enhanced terahertz (THz) emission in a large-area photoconductive antenna-emitter (LAE), boosted by an array of cylindrical sapphire-fiber-based microlenses, is reported. The observed enhancement is achieved, thanks to the sharp focusing of a pump laser beam near the semiconductor surface, for which the high-refractive-index sapphire lenses are used. We predict numerically and confirm experimentally a considerable enhancement in the emitted THz spectral power for such a sapphire-fiber-coupled LAE, as compared to an ordinary one with an equal electrode topology. In fact, a ≃8.5-fold THz power boost is achieved, resulting in a +9.3 dB increase in the dynamic range. The results of our findings can be used to improve the performance of large-area THz devices, aimed at meeting the demands of rapidly developed THz spectroscopy, imaging, sensing, and exposure technologies.

Sapphire Fiber Bragg Gratings Demodulated With Cross Correlation Algorithm for Long-Term High-Temperature Measurement

Sapphire Fiber Bragg Gratings Demodulated With Cross Correlation Algorithm for Long-Term High-Temperature Measurement

Effect of Surface Roughness on the Strength of Sapphire Fibers

Effect of Surface Roughness on the Strength of Sapphire Fibers

Investigation of the influence of different liquid temperatures on the dynamics of long-pulse laser-induced cavitation bubbles

Long-Pulse Laser-induced cavitation bubbles have been identified to hold significant applications in various fields, such as industry and medicine. In this study, the dynamics of cavitation bubbles, induced by a 2.94 μm wavelength Er:YAG laser with an energy of 20 ±1 mJ and transmitted via sapphire fiber optics into distilled water at different temperatures, were investigated. The adiabatic expansion theory was utilized to predict the maximum length (Lmax) and the maximum width (Wmax) of the cavitation bubbles at different liquid temperatures. Excellent alignment was observed between the theoretical predictions and the experimental data. Using this theory, the local overheated liquid temperature was deduced to be ∼180 °C during the formation of cavitation bubbles. It was found that as the liquid temperature increased, the collapse position of the cavitation bubbles, relative to the normalized distance (γ) from the fiber end face, decreased. This study reveals the importance of considering the potential risk of damage to fiber optics from the shockwaves and microjet streams generated by cavitation bubbles in high-temperature conditions.

Effect of surface roughness on the strength of sapphire fiber

In this work, sapphire fibers formed using the modified Stepanov/EFG method were tested for strength. A study of the surface of sapphire fibers obtained from the melt shows that the roughness of the fibers arises mainly due to its fluctuation in ascending gas flows during the growth process. The paper investigates the effect of fiber surface roughness on its strength. To reduce the roughness, the fiber diameter stabilization system was used, which enable to reduce the roughness parameters to tens of nanometers. When testing according to the original method, it was found that a decrease in the surface roughness of the fiber leads to an increase in its strength. And the strength of the fibers decreases with length in a power law.

High-temperature strain sensor based on sapphire fiber Bragg grating.

Sapphire fiber Bragg grating (SFBG) is a promising high-temperature strain sensor due to its melting point of 2045°C. However, the study on the long-term stability of SFBG under high temperature with an applied strain is still missing. In this paper, we reported for the first time to our knowledge on the critical temperature point of plastic deformation of the SFBG and demonstrated that the SFBG strain sensor can operate stably below 1200°C. At first, we experimentally investigated the topography and the spectral characteristics of the SFBG at different temperatures (i.e., 25°C, 1180°C, and 1600°C) with applied 650 µε. The reflection peak of the SFBG exhibits a redshift of about 15 nm and broadens gradually within 8 h at 1600°C, and the tensile force value decreases by 0.60 N in this process. After the test, the diameter of the SFBG region decreases from 100 to 88.6 µm, and the grating period is extended from 1.76 to 1.79 µm. This indicates that the plastic deformation of the SFBG happened indeed, and it was elongated irreversibly. Moreover, the stability of the Bragg wavelength of the SFBG under high temperature with the applied strain was evaluated. The result demonstrates the SFBG can be used to measure strain reliably below 1200°C. Furthermore, the strain experiments of SFBG at 25°C, 800°C, and 1100°C have been carried out. A linear fitting curve with high fitness (R2 > 0.99) and a lower strain measurement error (<15 µε) can be obtained. The aforementioned results make SFBG promising for high-temperature strain sensing in many fields, such as, power plants, gas turbines, and aerospace vehicles.

Size-unlimited sapphire single-crystal fiber growth and the anisotropic &amp; size-dependent mechanical and thermometry performance

Sapphire fiber is becoming a research hotspot for high-temperature sensing in extreme environments due to its high melting point, wide transmission band and superior thermal stability. Nevertheless, the preparation of...

Cascaded Sapphire Fiber Bragg Gratings Inscribed by Femtosecond Laser for Molten Steel Studies

Cascaded Sapphire Fiber Bragg Gratings Inscribed by Femtosecond Laser for Molten Steel Studies

Directional and lattice engineering growth of sapphire fibers for ultrasonic ultra-high-temperature sensors

High-temperature sensors for extreme environments are in urgent demand with the rapid development of aerospace, nuclear energy, and advanced manufacturing. Ultrasonic temperature sensors (UTS) are widely used in high-temperature sensing due to their high working temperature that approaches the melting point of the acoustic waveguide. Al2O3 single-crystal fiber (SCF), also called sapphire fiber, is a promising candidate for ultrasonic thermometry due to its ultra-high melting point (∼2050 °C), high strength and oxidation resistance. Here, we report for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, large length-diameter ratio sapphire fibers with specific orientations (a-axis, m-axis, and c-axis) have been grown by laser-heated pedestal growth method and applied for ultrasonic temperature sensing. Sapphire fibers exhibit significant acoustic anisotropy, and a-oriented sapphire fiber has a lower acoustic velocity and a greater velocity-temperature variation, leading to higher sensitivity. Moreover, the acoustic velocity of sapphire fiber could be further decreased by doping with Cr ions owing to the enhanced lattice disorder and crystal density. As a result, an improved unit sensitivity of 28.98–52.88 ns°C−1m−1 and a superior resolution of 1.73–0.95 °C have been achieved in the range of 20–1200 °C via a-oriented Cr:Al2O3 SCF-UTS. More importantly, the sensor performance is positively correlated with ambient temperature, accompanied with the high working temperature (∼1800 °C) and excellent stability (∼20 h), demonstrating promising prospects for applications in high-temperature thermometry. This work provides a feasible approach for designing a high-performance UTS based on acoustic anisotropy and lattice engineering.

Femtosecond Laser Plane-by-Plane Inscription of Bragg Gratings in Sapphire Fiber

Femtosecond Laser Plane-by-Plane Inscription of Bragg Gratings in Sapphire Fiber

Intrinsic Sapphire Fiber Scattering Array Interferometer Based on Point-by-Point Laser Inscription for High-Temperature Sensing

Intrinsic Sapphire Fiber Scattering Array Interferometer Based on Point-by-Point Laser Inscription for High-Temperature Sensing

Boosting SNR of cascaded FBGs in a sapphire fiber through a rapid heat treatment.

This Letter reports the performance of femtosecond (fs) laser-written distributed fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) under high-temperature conditions up to 1600°C and explores the impact of rapid heat treatment on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement. FBGs are essential for reliable optical sensing in extreme temperature environments. Comprehensive tests demonstrate the remarkable performance and resilience of FBGs at temperatures up to 1600°C, confirming their suitability for deployment in such conditions. The study also reveals significant fringe visibility improvements of up to ∼10 dB on a 1-m-long sapphire optical fiber through rapid heat treatment, representing a first-time achievement to the best of our knowledge. These enhancements are vital for improving the SNR and overall performance of optical fiber systems in extreme temperatures. Furthermore, the research attains long-term stability for the cascaded FBGs over a 24-hr period at 1600°C. This research expands our understanding of the FBG behavior in high-temperature environments and opens avenues for developing robust optical fiber systems for energy, aerospace, oil and gas, and high-temperature distributed sensing applications.