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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 June 2025 | Viewed by 9414

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Hailiang Chen

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Science, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, China
Interests: optical fiber sensors; photonic crystal fiber; optical interference; surface plasmon resonance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of the journal Sensors, entitled “Advances in Design and Application of Optical Fiber Sensors”, aims to gather recent advancements in optical fiber sensors. Papers that focus on all aspects of the design and application of optical fiber sensors are welcome. The papers published in this Special Issue will contribute to the development of photonics and optics. This Special Issue will also provide a rapid publishing platform for scientific researchers to publish their innovative results.

We invite submissions on a wide range of advances in the design and application of optical fiber sensors, including but not limited to:

Physical sensors;
Chemical sensors;
Medicine sensors;
Biology sensors;
Gas sensors;
Artificial intelligence applications in optical fiber sensors;
Novel sensing mechanisms and methods.

Prof. Dr. Hailiang Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

optical fiber sensor
surface plasmon resonance
optical interference
optical fiber grating
artificial intelligence
physical sensors
chemical sensors
medicine sensors
biology sensors
gas sensors

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4212 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ultra-High Sensitivity Methane Gas Sensor Based on Cryptophane-A Thin Film Depositing in Double D-Shaped Photonic Crystal Fiber Using the Vernier Effect

by Di Zhou, Sajid Ullah, Sa Zhang and Shuguang Li

Sensors 2024, 24(24), 8132; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24248132 - 19 Dec 2024

Viewed by 627

Abstract

Methane gas leakage can lead to pollution problems, such as rising ambient temperature. In this paper, the Vernier effect of a double D-shaped photonic crystal fiber (PCF) in a Sagnac interferometer (SI) is proposed for the accurate detection of mixed methane gas content in the gas. The optical fiber structure of the effective sensing in the sensing SI loop and the effective sensing in the reference SI loop are the same. Both of them adopt the polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PM-PCF) designed in this paper. The optical fiber structure of the effective sensing in the sensing SI loop deposited with the methane gas-sensitive film is polished to obtain a double-D structure. This operation makes it easier for methane gas to contact the sensitive film and realize the sensor’s repeated use. The sensing capability of the methane gas sensor was evaluated utilizing the finite element method (FEM). The numerical simulation results show that when the concentration of methane gas in the environment is 0~3.5%, the average sensitivity of two parallel Sagnac loops is 409.43 nm/%. Using Vernier effect cascade SI loops, the sensitivity of the sensor for detecting methane gas increased by four times. Without considering air and humidity, we provide a practical scheme for the development and design of high-sensitivity methane gas sensors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Design and Application of Optical Fiber Sensors)

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14 pages, 4473 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Highly Sensitive D-Shaped PCF-SPR Sensor for Refractive Index and Temperature Detection

by Sajid Ullah, Hailiang Chen, Pengxiao Guo, Mingshi Song, Sa Zhang, Linchuan Hu and Shuguang Li

Sensors 2024, 24(17), 5582; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24175582 - 28 Aug 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1670

Abstract

A novel highly sensitive D-shaped photonic crystal fiber-based surface plasmon resonance (PCF-SPR) sensor for dual parameters of refractive index and temperature detecting is proposed. A PCF cladding polishing provides a D-shape design with a gold (Au) film coating for refractive index (RI) sensing (Core 1) and a composite film of silver (Ag) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for temperature sensing (Core 2). Comsol Multiphysics 5.5 is used to design and simulate the proposed sensor by the finite element method (FEM). The proposed sensor numerically provides results with maximum wavelength sensitivities (WSs) of 51,200 and 56,700 nm/RIU for Core 1 and 2 as RI sensing while amplitude sensitivities are −98.9 and −147.6 RIU⁻¹ with spectral resolution of 1.95 × 10⁻⁶ and 1.76 × 10⁻⁶ RIU, respectively. Notably, wavelength sensitivity of 17.4 nm/°C is obtained between −20 and −10 °C with resolution of 5.74 × 10⁻³ °C for Core 2 as temperature sensing. This sensor can efficiently work in the analyte and temperature ranges of 1.33–1.43 RI and −20–100 °C. Due to its high sensitivity and wide detection ranges, both in T and RI sensing, it is a promising candidate for a variety of applications, including chemical, medical, and environmental detection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Design and Application of Optical Fiber Sensors)

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25 pages, 28882 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Rapid Prototyping for Nanoparticle-Based Photonic Crystal Fiber Sensors

by Michael Sherburne, Cameron Harjes, Benjamin Klitsner, Jonathan Gigax, Sergei Ivanov, Edl Schamiloglu and Jane Lehr

Sensors 2024, 24(12), 3707; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24123707 - 7 Jun 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1845

Abstract

The advent of nanotechnology has motivated a revolution in the development of miniaturized sensors. Such sensors can be used for radiation detection, temperature sensing, radio-frequency sensing, strain sensing, and more. At the nanoscale, integrating the materials of interest into sensing platforms can be a common issue. One promising platform is photonic crystal fibers, which can draw in optically sensitive nanoparticles or have its optical properties changed by specialized nanomaterials. However, testing these sensors at scale is limited by the the need for specialized equipment to integrate these photonic crystal fibers into optical fiber systems. Having a method to enable rapid prototyping of new nanoparticle-based sensors in photonic crystal fibers would open up the field to a wider range of laboratories that could not have initially studied these materials in such a way before. This manuscript discusses the improved processes for cleaving, drawing, and rapidly integrating nanoparticle-based photonic crystal fibers into optical system setups. The method proposed in this manuscript achieved the following innovations: cleaving at a quality needed for nanoparticle integration could be done more reliably (≈100% acceptable cleaving yield versus ≈50% conventionally), nanoparticles could be drawn at scale through photonic crystal fibers in a safe manner (a method to draw multiple photonic crystal fibers at scale versus one fiber at a time), and the new photonic crystal fiber mount was able to be finely adjusted when increasing the optical coupling before inserting it into an optical system (before, expensive fusion splicing was the only other method). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Design and Application of Optical Fiber Sensors)

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14 pages, 5058 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Novel Approach to Raman Distributed Temperature-Sensing System for Short-Range Applications

by Augusto Pieracci, Jacopo Nanni, Giovanni Tartarini and Massimo Lanzoni

Sensors 2024, 24(9), 2669; https://doi.org/10.3390/s24092669 - 23 Apr 2024

Viewed by 1613

Abstract

A novel approach to the development of Distributed Temperature-Sensing (DTS) systems based on Raman Scattering in Multimode optical fibers operating at around 800 nm is presented, focusing on applications requiring temperature profile measurement in the range of a few hundreds of meters. In contrast to the standard Raman DTS systems, which aim to shorten the pulse space width as much as possible to improve the precision of measurement, the novel approach studied in this work is based on the use of pulses with a space width that is approximately equal to the distance covered by the fiber under test. The proposed technique relies on numerical post-processing to obtain the temperature profile measurement with a precision of about

\pm 3 ° C

and a spatial resolution of 8 m, due to the transaction phases of the optical pulses. This solution simplifies the electronic circuit development, also minimizing the required laser peak power needed compared to the typical narrow pulse techniques. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Design and Application of Optical Fiber Sensors)

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14 pages, 7582 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Microsphere-Based Microsensor for Miniature Motors’ Vibration Measurement

by Kaichuan Xu, Chunlei Jiang, Qilu Ban, Pan Dai, Yaqiang Fan, Shijie Yang, Yue Zhang, Jiacheng Wang, Yu Wang, Xiangfei Chen, Jie Zeng and Feng Wang

Sensors 2023, 23(22), 9196; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23229196 - 15 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1183

Abstract

We present a microsphere-based microsensor that can measure the vibrations of the miniature motor shaft (MMS) in a small space. The microsensor is composed of a stretched fiber and a microsphere with a diameter of 5 μm. When a light source is incident on the microsphere surface, the microsphere induces the phenomenon of photonic nanojet (PNJ), which causes light to pass through the front. The PNJ’s full width at half maximum is narrow, surpassing the diffraction limit, enables precise focusing on the MMS surface, and enhances the scattered or reflected light emitted from the MMS surface. With two of the proposed microsensors, the axial and radial vibration of the MMS are measured simultaneously. The performance of the microsensor has been calibrated with a standard vibration source, demonstrating measurement errors of less than 1.5%. The microsensor is expected to be used in a confined space for the vibration measurement of miniature motors in industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Design and Application of Optical Fiber Sensors)

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13 pages, 14374 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Performance Characterization and Optimization of Fiber-Optic Acoustic Pressure Sensors Based on the MOEMS Sensitized Structure

by Ruling Zhou, Chenggang Guan, Hui Lv, Shasha Li, Puchu Lv, Haixin Qin, Wenxiu Chu, Yikai Zhou, Yihao Zhang and Xiaoqiang Li

Sensors 2023, 23(19), 8300; https://doi.org/10.3390/s23198300 - 7 Oct 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1564

Abstract

In order to investigate the factors affecting the acoustic performance of the extrinsic Fabry–Perot interferometer (EFPI) fiber-optic acoustic pressure sensor and to effectively improve its detection capability, this paper enhances the sensor’s detection sensitivity by adding more sensitized rings to its acoustic pressure-sensitive film. Furthermore, a novel real-time coupled acoustic test method is proposed to simultaneously monitor the changes in the spectral and acoustic metrics of the sensor to characterize its overall performance. Finally, an EFPI-type fiber-optic acoustic pressure sensor was developed based on the Micro-Optical Electro-Mechanical System (MOEMS). The acoustic tests indicate that the optimized fiber-optic acoustic pressure sensor has a sensitivity as high as 2253.2 mV/Pa, and the acoustic overload point (AOP) and signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) can reach 108.85 dB SPL and 79.22 dB, respectively. These results show that the sensor produced through performance characterization experiments and subsequent optimization has a very high acoustic performance index, which provides a scientific theoretical basis for improving the overall performance of the sensor and will have broad application prospects in the field of acoustic detection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Design and Application of Optical Fiber Sensors)

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