Fiber optical temperature and strain sensors have been extensively investigated for applications in the civil structures to ensure safety and prevent disasters in advance. Most of the demonstrated fiber sensors are based on the silica fibers to form an interferometer by measuring the spectrum wavelength shift caused by the change of the refractive index and fiber length, and the sensitivities, defined as the rate of wavelength shift with respect to temperature or strain, are limited by the small values of thermal-expansion coefficient and thermo-optic effect of the silica materials. To improve the sensitivity, we designed the dual-core As2Se3-PMMA fiber with the PMMA cladding diameter 56.5 times larger than that of the As2Se3 cores, which brings out many interesting sensing applications. Nonlinear devices have a variety of practical applications including parametric amplification, all-optical switching, super-continuum generation, and sensing applications. Tapered chalcogenide-polymer fiber structures composed of an As2Se3 core and a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) cladding are a promising platform for nonlinear applications because the As2Se3 core provides high nonlinearity over the near- and mid-infrared spectral ranges for compact nonlinear devices with low power consumption and the PMMA cladding provides high mechanical strength for easy handling. Advanced As2Se3-PMMA fiber structures such as dual-core fibers that support guided propagation of an even mode and an odd mode will open the way for a variety of novel devices in the near- and mid-IR wavelength range. In my work I utilized two As2Se3 fibers and a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) tube for the fabrication of dual-core As2Se3-PMMA tapers and demonstration of the sensing applications and nonlinear optical effects. The thesis mainly consists of three parts: the fabrication process, the sensing applications, and the nonlinear applications in the tapered dual-core As2Se3-PMMA fiber. In the first part, the fabrication process of the tapered dual-core As2Se3-PMMA fiber is introduced. The dual-core As2Se3-PMMA fibers are fabricated using a rod-in-tube method. The images of the setups and fibers in process are listed. In the second part, a theoretical model for temperature and strain measurement and four sensing applications are introduced. Firstly, we demonstrate an approach for high-sensitivity simultaneous temperature and strain measurement in a dual-core As2Se3-PMMA taper with As2Se3 core diameter of 0.55 μm. High measurement sensitivities are observed for both principal polarization axes of the tapered dual-core As2Se3-PMMA fiber with temperature sensitivities of -115 pm/ºC for axis-1, -35.5 pm/ºC for axis-2, and strain sensitivities of -4.21 pm/με for axis-1 and -3.16 pm/με for axis-2. Secondly, the thermal forces in a dual-core As2Se3-PMMA taper are investigated. A temperature-insensitive strain sensor is proposed and demonstrated based on the thermal forces. Finally, two approaches for temperature and strain sensitivity enhancement are investigated. The first approach is by reducing the value of the variation of the difference between phases of the even and odd modes with respect to wavelength (∂ϕd(λ)/∂λ) and increasing thermal-forces in a dual-core As2Se3-PMMA taper with As2Se3 core diameter of 2.5 μm. The value of ∂ϕd(λ)/∂λ decreases with the As2Se3 core diameter and thermal-forces on the As2Se3 cores are enhanced in the fibers with large PMMA cladding, which work together to enhance the measurement sensitivity. The second approach is based on effective group-velocity matching between the even and odd modes of a dual-core As2Se3-PMMA taper on which an antisymmetric long-period grating is inscribed. The variation of the difference between phases of the even and odd modes with respect to wavelength tends to 0 (∂ϕd(λ)/∂λ→0) near the resonance wavelength of the grating due to the effective group-velocity matching between the two modes, and consequently, thermally-induced change of the difference between phases of the two modes ϕd (λ) leads to a large wavelength shift indicating enhancement of the temperature measurement sensitivity. In the third part, I study the nonlinear optical effects in the hybrid fibers. Firstly, I demonstrate modulation instability within the normal-dispersion regime in a dual-core As2Se3-PMMA fiber. Then I review the work about the forward stimulated Brillouin scattering and its sensing applications. The radial and torsional-radial guided acoustic modes of silica fibers and tapered dual-core As2Se3-PMMA fibers are investigated experimentally and the preliminary results are presented.

Optical resonators, which confine light by resonant recirculation, serve as the basis for a wide variety of optical components. Though they appear in many geometric forms, the most effective of optical resonators show axial symmetry in at least one dimension. A popular variation that finds broad application is the dielectric sphere. Acclaimed for their high quality (Q) factor and small modal volume, spheres owe credit of these attractive features to their support of whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonances. The sensitivity of a resonance's frequency and Q to strain, temperature, and other parameters of the surrounding medium can be the basis for ultracompact modulators and sensors. Physically, WGMs are special optical modes which can be understood as light rays that orbit the equator of the sphere guided by total internal reflection. Like a smooth stone can be skipped along the surface of a pond, light can be confined to the inside of a sphere by successive reflections. To best excite WGMs, the source light should initially trace a line tangent to the sphere's circumference. But incorporating a tiny sphere with such nanometric tolerances into a practical sensor structure has its challenges and the prospects for microsphere applications have suffered because of the plight of this problem. The work in this dissertation details the fabrication and function of three new "press fit" spherical resonators. These etched fiber micro-devices were developed to meet the demand for a robust, self-integrated means of coupling light between an optical fiber and WGMs in a microsphere resonator. The etching processes have been tuned to enable secure storage of a microsphere while also providing efficient excitation and interrogation of WGMs. Furthermore, the methods have been designed to be staightforward, quick, and repeatable. Using standard etchants on common polarization-maintaining fiber with readily purchased microspheres, the press fit resonators demonstrated here can be batch-fabricated and assembled. The press fit spherical resonator offers an alignment-free and conveniently pigtailed WGM coupler that has great potential for bio-science sensing applications and studies of resonant bispheres. / Ph. D.

Orientador: Jose Antonio Siqueira Dias / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T11:11:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leite_RogerioLara_D.pdf: 18262113 bytes, checksum: 8c49a719bdf98e92810c4c7275e7da78 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Os sensores a fibra óptica são especialmente indicados para operarem em ambientes eletricamente ruidosos, uma vez que são imunes aos efeitos da interferência eletromagnética (EMI) encontrados nestes ambientes. Tal característica faz com que os sensores ópticos sejam altamente vantajosos para as aplicações nos sistemas de sensoreamento utilizados pelas empresas de energia elétrica. Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um protótipo de baixo custo de um sensor óptico de alta tensão com alta confiabilidade, que pode ser usado para monitorar o estado ou limiares de tensão em uma rede elétrica. Uma técnica de detecção do sinal através do sensoreamento com grades de Bragg é apresentada, fabricada e avaliada. Os resultados mostram que a técnica de detecção empregada, onde a amplitude ac do sinal da luz refletido é medida em um fotodiodo, mostra-se adequada para a aplicação em sensores de alta tensão. As medidas realizadas em um protótipo de sensor de alta tensão com fibra óptica com grade de Bragg indicam que o esquema de detecção desenvolvido é promissor, e pode ser usado para medir outros sinais dinâmicos que respondam a um esforço de pequena amplitude aplicado à fibra óptica. O protótipo desenvolvido permitiu a detecção de tensões variando na faixa de 143 V -60kY. É também apresentada uma nova técnica para estabilizar termicamente grades de Bragg com a temperatura, utilizando o sinal uma fibra extra, casada com a fibra do sensor, que através de um circuito de realimentação atua no elemento aquecedor/resfriador do laser semicondutor(thenno electrical cooler), para fazer com que o comprimento de onda do laser siga as variações da sintonia da grade de Bragg sensora, causadas por variações da temperatura. Esta técnica inovadora poderá ser utilizada para a compensação térmica de outros tipos de sensores com grade de Bragg, permitindo a fabricação de sensores de baixo custo e grande simplicidade de implementação / Abstract: Fiber optics sensors are specially indicated to operate in noisy electrical environments because they are immune to the effects of electromagnetic interference (EM!) found in these environrnents. Such characteristic makes these sensors highly advantageous to the applications in the measurement systems used by electrical energy companies. This work presents the development of a prototype of a high-voltage and a low cost optical sensor which is used to monitor the state or voltage threshold with a high reliability. A technique for the detection of fiber Bragg grating sensors signals was developed, presented and tested. The experimental results showed that the developed detection technique, where the ac amplitude of the signal result from the light reflection is measured with a photodiode is adequate for high voltage sensing applications. The prototype of the high voltage fiber Bragg sensor was tested and the measured results indicate that the technique can be used to detect any other dynarnic measurand which induces a small strain amplitude when applied to the fiber Bragg grating. The developed prototype detected voltages in the range from 143 V to 60 kV. It is also presented a new technique for obtaining temperature independent fiber Bragg gratings, using a feedback circuit which uses the signal detected from a matched fiber and generates a signal which actuates on the thermo electrical cooler of the semiconductor laser, modifying the laser' s output wavelength, in orer to accurate track the Bragg wavelength shifts caused by temperature variations. This novel technique can be used for the fabrication of simple and low-cost temperature compensated fiber Bragg grating sensors / Doutorado / Eletrônica, Microeletrônica e Optoeletrônica / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

This dissertation presents the fabrication and analysis of in-fiber devices based on elliptical core D-shaped optical fiber. Devices created inside optical fibers are attractive for a variety of reasons including low loss, high efficiency, self-alignment, light weight, multiplexibility, and resistance to electromagnetic interference. This work details how D-fiber can be used as a platform for a variety of devices and describes the creation and performance of two of these devices: an in-fiber polymer waveguide and a surface relief fiber Bragg grating. In D-fiber the core is very close to the flat side of the ‘D’ shape. This proximity allows access to the fields in the fiber core by removal of the cladding above the core. The D-fiber we use also has an elliptical core, allowing for the creation of polarimetric devices. This work describes two different etch processes using hydrofluoric acid (HF) to remove the fiber cladding and core. For the creation of devices in the fiber core, the core is partially removed and replaced with another material possessing the required optical properties. For devices which interact with the evanescent field, cladding removal is terminated before acid breaches the core. Etching fibers prepares them for use in the creation of in-fiber devices. Materials are placed into the groove left when the core of a fiber is partially removed to form a hybrid waveguide in which light is guided by both the leftover core and the inserted material. These in-fiber polymer waveguides have insertion loss less than 2 dB and can potentially be the basis for a number of electro-optic devices or sensors. A polarimetric temperature sensor demonstrates the feasibility of the core replacement method. This work also describes the creation of a surface relief fiber Bragg gratings (SR-FBGs) in the cladding above the core of the fiber. Because it is etched into the surface topography of the fiber, a SR-FBG can operate at much higher temperatures than a standard FBG, up to at least 1100 degrees Celsius. The performance of a SR-FBG is demonstrated in temperature sensing at high temperatures, and as a strain sensor.