Diamond-Based Fiber-Optic Fabry–Perot Interferometer with Ultrawide Refractive-Index Measurement Range

Abstract

The majority of Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) tip refractive index (RI) sensors utilize silica optical fiber as the cavity material, with an RI of approximately 1.45. This restricts their applicability in measuring the RI of liquids with an RI of approximately 1.45. Here, we propose a fiber-optic FPI-tip RI sensor by bonding a flat, thin diamond film onto the apex of a single-mode optical fiber. The FPI cavity is constructed from a diamond with an RI of approximately 2.4, theoretically enabling the sensor to achieve an ultrawide RI measurement range of 1 to 2.4. A theoretical comparison of its measurement performance was conducted with that of an FPI-tip RI sensor whose cavity is formed by silica fiber. Additionally, an experimental examination of the device’s RI measurement performance was conducted. The results show that the sensor has visibility to the RI unit of −0.4362/RIU in the RI range of 1.33 to 1.40. Combined with other narrow-RI-ranged high-sensitivity sensors, our proposed RI sensor has the potential for use in a wide range of applications.

Keywords

• optical fiber sensor
• Fabry–Perot interferometer
• diamond
• refractive index