Photonic Crystal Fiber Interferometers (PCFIs) are widely used for sensing applications. This work presents the fabrication and the characterization of a relative humidity sensor based on a polymer-coated photonic crystal fiber that operates in a Mach- Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) transmission mode. The fabrication of the sensor involved splicing a short (1 cm) length of Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) between two single-mode fibers (SMF). It was then coated with a layer of agarose solution. Experimental results showed that a high humidity sensitivity of 29.37 pm/%RH was achieved within a measurement range of 27–95%RH. The sensor also showed good repeatability, small size, measurement accuracy and wide humidity range. The RH sensitivity of the sensor has a significant dependence on the thickness of the coating and the sensor with the highest sensitivity showed a linear response for RH change in the range of 27-95% RH and a fast response time of 0.8 sec for an RH change from 50% to 90%.
Abstract: Background: Optical biosensors offer excellent properties and methods for detecting bacteria when compared to traditional analytical techniques. It allows direct detection of many biological and chemical materials. Bacteria are found in the human body naturally non-pathogenic and pathologically, as they are found in other living organisms. One of these bacteria is Escherichia coli (E. coli) which are found in the human body in its natural and pathogenic form. E.coli bacteria cause many diseases, including Stomach, intestines, urinary system infections, and others. The aim of this study: is sensing and differentiation between normal flora and pathogenic E.coli. Material and method:
... Show MoreAbstract: Objectives: To investigate the effect of temperature elevation on the bonding strength of resin cement to the zirconia ceramic using fractional CO2 laser. Background: Fractional CO2 laser is an effective surface treatment of zirconia ceramic, as it increases the bonding strength of zirconia to resin cement. Methods: Thirty sintered zirconia discs (10 mm diameter, 2 mm thickness) were prepared and divided to three groups (N=10) and five diffident pulse durations were used in each group (0.1, 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 ms). Group A was treated with 10 W power setting, group B with 20 W and group C with 30 W. During laser irradiation, temperature elevation measurement was recorded for each specimen. Luting cement was bonded to the treated z
... Show MoreWe prepared polythiophene (PTH) with single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) nanocomposite thin films for Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas sensing applications. Thin films were synthesized via electrochemical polymerization method onto (Indium tin oxide) ITO coated glass substrate of thiophene monomer with magnesium perchlorate and different concentration from SWCNT (0.012 and 0.016) % in the presence130mL of Acetonitrile used. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to characterized these nanocomposite thin films. The response of these nanocomposite for NO2 gas was evaluated via monitoring the change
... Show MoreGas sensors based on titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposites are considered energy-saving devices that are utilized to find dangerous or harmful gases in an environment. The performance of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas sensors have been improved by spin-coating a TiO2 and TiO2:ZnO nanocomposite with varying concentrations (90TiO2:10ZnO, 70TiO2:30ZnO, and 50TiO2:50ZnO). To correlate structural properties with gas-sensing behavior, structural and morphological characterization has been done using FESEM, XRD, and EDX. Without any ZnO-specific crystalline phase, TiO2
... Show MoreBending effects on the transmission of optical signal are investigated on a single mode
optical fiber (SMOF) of 10 m length, core radius of 5 μm and optical refractive index difference
0.003. The bending radii (R) were between 0.08 and 0.0015 m. A great decrease in the amplitude is
shown for radii below 0.01 m. Sudden break down occurs for radii less than 0.0015 m. Birefringence
(B) is difficult to measure for long fibers. Meanwhile, B was found by comparing with calibrated
fiber of the same properties but of length of 0.075 m. The results show an increase in propagation
constant (Δβ) and the decrease in beat length (Lb), and show that bending decreases the critical radius
of curvature (Rc) related to B. The chang
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a simple high sensitivity vapor sensor for propanol ((CH3)2CHOH). A free space gap was employed in two arms of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer to serve as the sensing mechanism by adding propanol volume (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1) ml and to set the phase reference with a physical spacing of (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2) mm. The propagation constant of transmitted light in the Mach-Zehnder interferometer’s gap changes due to the small variation in the refractive index inside sensing arm that will further shift the optical phase of the signal. Experimental results indicated that the highest sensitivity of propanol was about 0.0275 nm/ml in different liquid volume while highest phase shift was 0.182×103 i
... Show MoreA Mini-TEA CO2 laser system was designed and operated to obtain a pulse at 10.6 μm. Output energy of 30 mJ, with preionization pins, and pulse duration of 100ns were obtained. While an output energy of 6mJ and pulse duration of 100 ns in absence of pre-ionization were obtained. The system was operated with Ernest profile main-discharge electrodes. Dependencies of supply voltage and output laser energy on the pressure inside laser cavity were investigated as well as dependencies of supply voltage and output energy on the main capacitor(8CO2 : 8N2 : 82He :2CO). Efficiency of was calculated to be 4.4%.
In this study ZnS thin film was prepared by using thermal evaporation vacuum technique under the pressure (10-6) Torr on glass substrate at room temperature and annealing at 523 K Samples were irradiated to CO2 laser of power (1 watt) and wave length (10.6) μm at distance 10 cm from the source during (5 sec). The absorbance spectra was recorded by using UV-visible spectrophotometer and used to calculated some of optical properties investigated including their transmittance, reflectance spectra, energy gap, and extinction coefficient. From the result of thin films samples at room temperature and at 523 K, we conclude that the irradiation by laser causes a decrease in the transmittance and increasing in reflection and extinction coeffic
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