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Integrated Chemical Vapor Sensor based on Thin Wall Capillary Coupled Porous Glass Microsphere Optical Resonator
Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical
  • Hanzheng Wang
  • Lei Yuan
  • Cheol-Woon Kim, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Xinwei Lan
  • Jie Huang, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Yinfa Ma, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Hai Xiao, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

A miniaturized chemical vapor sensor probe was developed using a porous glass microsphere (PGM) as the alignment-free optical microresonator. The porous microsphere was placed inside a thin wall silica capillary tube that was fusion-spliced to an optical fiber. The whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of the microsphere were excited by the evanescent field of the light propagating inside the capillary thin wall. Adsorption of chemical vapor molecules into the pores led to a refractive index change of the PGM and thus the resonance wavelength shift of the WGMs. To facilitate the in-taking of chemical vapor molecules into the PGM, a micro window was opened at the backend of the capillary tube using femtosecond laser micromachining. Ethanol vapor was used to demonstrate the probe for chemical vapor sensing. With a miniaturized size, integrated structure and reflection mode of operation, the proposed probe may find useful in many practical applications such as environmental monitoring and biomedical sensing.

Department(s)
Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science
Second Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Third Department
Chemistry
Sponsor(s)

National Institutes of Health (U.S.)

Comments

The work was supported by NIH under the Grant R21GM104696.

Keywords and Phrases
  • Capillary tubes,
  • Chemical vapor deposition,
  • Evanescent fields,
  • Glass,
  • Microfabrication,
  • Microspheres,
  • Molecules,
  • Optical fibers,
  • Optical resonators,
  • Probes,
  • Refractive index,
  • Resonators,
  • Thin walled structures,
  • Tubes (components),
  • Ultrashort pulses,
  • Chemical vapor sensors,
  • Environmental Monitoring,
  • Femtosecond laser micromachining,
  • Integrated structure,
  • Porous structures,
  • Refractive index changes,
  • Resonance wavelengths,
  • Thin walls,
  • Whispering gallery modes,
  • Thin wall capillary
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2015 Elsevier, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
9-1-2015
Publication Date
01 Sep 2015
Citation Information
Hanzheng Wang, Lei Yuan, Cheol-Woon Kim, Xinwei Lan, et al.. "Integrated Chemical Vapor Sensor based on Thin Wall Capillary Coupled Porous Glass Microsphere Optical Resonator" Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical Vol. 216 (2015) p. 332 - 336 ISSN: 0925-4005
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/yinfa-ma/169/