Enhancement of the Sensitivity of a Volatile Organic Compounds MOF-Sensor by Means of Its Structure

Abstract

In this paper, we experimentally compare several core structures of Microstructured Optical Fibers (MOFs) for low-finesse Fabry-Pérot (FP) sensors. These sensors are designed for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) measurements. We deposit Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films by sputtering on the MOFs and different optical phase responses of the FP were measured for saturated atmospheres of ethanol. The sensitivity of the developed sensors is demonstrated to depend on the geometry and the dimensions of the MOF-cores. The sensors show recovery times under 100 s and the baselines are fully recovered after exposure to VOC.

Keywords

• microstructure optical fiber (MOF) 1
• low-finesse fabry-pérot (FP) 2
• volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 3
• indium tin oxide (ITO) 4