Lastly, the paper is summarized and future research directions are discussed.2.?Hetero-Core Optical Fiber Sensor System2.1. HC Optical Fiber SensorsAn HC fiber optic sensor consists of a transmission line and a spliced hetero-core portion which works as a sensor. These sensors are made from different types and core diameters of optical fiber. In this study, two types of sensor modules are used: HC surface plasmon resonance (HC-SPR) sensors and HC bending sensors.2.1.1. SPR SensorsA multimode fiber and a single-mode fiber are used to construct an HC-SPR sensor. Figure 1 shows the structure of the HC-SPR sensor used in this study. This sensor type is fabricated with a graded index multimode fiber and a step index single-mode fiber. The core diameter of the multi-mode fiber is 50 ��m and the core of single-mode fiber is 3 ��m.
The multi-mode fiber works as transmission line, while the single-mode fiber acts as a sensor. The length of the sensor portion can range from 2 to 20 mm. The core diameter of the inserted fiber is much smaller than the transmission line. Consequently, most of the light wave will leak into the cladding layer at the interface of the transmission line and the hetero-core portion.Figure 1.Structure of the hetero-core structured optical fiber SPR sensor.After the HC optical fiber has been prepared, the HC-SPR portion is then fabricated by uniformly coating the bare fiber surface with metal using a radio frequency (RF) sputtering machine (CFS-4DS-231; Shibaura Mechatronics Corp., Yokohama, Japan).
The metallic coating on the cylindrical surface of the hetero-core portion allows the formation of a surface plasmon wave when an evanescent wave reflects on the metal surface. The light leakage generates an evanescent wave in the cladding when it reflects at the boundary surface between the cladding and the surrounding medium [13].The SPR resonance wavelength can vary because it depends on the refractive index and absorbance of the coated metal surface. Thus, this mechanism can be used as a sensor for measuring refractive index by measuring changes in the resonance wavelength.However, in this study, the light leakage that causes SPR resonance in the HC-SPR sensor is measured as light loss. Therefore, this system measures changes in signal intensity.2.1.2. Bending SensorsBending sensors can be served as binary switch sensors.
The data transmission line and the sensor portion are made by single-mode fiber. The transmission line has a 9 ��m core diameter; the sensor portion has a 5 ��m core. The length of the sensor portion can range from 1 to 10 mm. The HC sensor portion diameter is smaller than the transmission portion. As in HC-SPR sensors, Brefeldin_A a small amount of light is leaked when it travels through the sensor portion. The sensor works by a light leakage mechanism, so the light loss is measured. This concept can also be used to develop a binary switch module.