Systematic investigation of annealing behavior of drawn PMMA fibers was performed. Dynamics of annealing process were measured under different environmental conditions by fiber longitudinal shrinkage monitoring. Process was found to follow stretched exponential decay function indicating heterogeneous nature of underlying molecular dynamics. Consequences of fiber annealing for climatic stability of polymer optical fiber-based sensors are discussed, emphasizing importance of fiber controlled post-fabrication annealing. Dependence of induced fiber shrinkage on annealing time, temperature and fiber drawing conditions is investigated and interpreted. In addition, strong influence of humidity on annealing process was observed, which was not recognized in previous studies. This further highlights role of fiber post-fabrication thermal treatment with respect to intended operating conditions.
We describe the fabrication of a polycarbonate (PC) micro-structured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) and the writing of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in it to enable strain and temperature measurements. We demonstrate the photosensitivity of a dopant-free PC fiber by grating inscription using a UV laser. We further show that PC Bragg gratings can be extended up to at least 3% without affecting the initial functionality of the micro-structured fiber. The response of PC FBGs to temperature up to 125°C is also investigated. Polycarbonate has good mechanical properties and its high temperatureresistance might extend the range of application of polymeric FBGs.
Along temperature, humidity is one of the principal environmental factors that plays an important role in various application areas. Presented work investigates possibility of distributed fiberoptic humidity monitoring based on humidity-induced strain measurement in polyimide (PI)-coated optical fibers. Characterization of relative humidity (RH) and temperature response of four different commercial PI- and one acrylate-coated fiber was performed using optical backscattering reflectometry (OBR). The study addresses issues of temperature-humidity cross sensitivity, fiber response stability, repeatability, and the influence of annealing. Acrylate-coated fiber exhibited rather unfavorable nonlinear RH response with strong temperature dependence, which makes it unsuitable for humidity sensing applications. On the other hand, humidity response of PI-coated fibers showed good linearity with fiber sensitivity slightly decreasing at rising temperatures. In the tested range, temperature sensitivity of the fibers remained humidity independent. Thermal annealing was shown to considerably improve and stabilize fiber RH response. Based on performed analysis, a 20 m sensor using the optimal PI-coated fibers was proposed and constructed. The sensor uses dual sensing fiber configuration for mutual decoupling and simultaneous measurement of temperature and RH variations. Using OBR, distributed dual temperature-RH monitoring with cm spatial resolution was demonstrated for the first time.
The paper presents the first complex study of Gamma radiation effects on a low-loss perfluorinated polymer optical fiber (PF-POF) based on Cytop® polymer. Influence of gamma radiation on fiber’s optical, mechanical and climatic performance is investigated. The radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) in the visible and near-infrared region (0.4 μm-1.7 mm) is measured and its origins are discussed. Besides attenuation increase, radiation is also shown to decrease the thermal degradation stability of the fiber and to increase its susceptibility to water. With regard to complex fiber transmission performance upon irradiation, the optimal operation wavelength region of PF-POF-based systems intended for use in Radiation environments is determined to be around 1.1 μm. On the other hand, the investigated fiber holds potential for low-cost RIA-based optical fiber dosimetry applications with sensitivity as high as 260 dBm⁻¹/kGy in the visible region.
Here we present the fabrication of a solid-core microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) made of polycarbonate (PC), and report the first experimental demonstration of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) written in a PC optical fiber. The PC used in this work has a glass transition temperature of 145°C. We also characterize the mPOF optically and mechanically, and further test the sensitivity of the PC FBG to strain and temperature. We demonstrate that the PC FBG can bear temperatures as high as 125°C without malfunctioning. In contrast, polymethyl methacrylate-based FBG technology is generally limited to temperatures below 90°C.
Gamma radiation induced effects in perfluorinated polymer optical fibers for sensing applications
(2015)
Radiation induced attenuation in perfluorinated polymer optical fiber was investigated as a potential mean for online. in situ gamma radiation monitoring. Spectral dependence of radiation induced attenuation was measured in the visible and near infrared range. Attenuation spectrum exhibits sharp increase both towards the ultraviolet and infrared side of the spectrum with 3 distinct peaks around 1400 nm. The fiber sensitivity to gamma radiation was further evaluated at two commonly used IR wavelengths (1310nm and l550nm} by pre- and post-irradiation optical time-domain reflectometry measurements. The examined fiber is sensitive up to lOO kGy of total absorbed dose with only minor saturation towards the large dose values. The influence of gamma radiation on the fiber mechanical properties was studied as well. Up to the maximal dose of 100 kGy, no significant deterioration of fiber strength and elasticity was observed.
Impact of gamma radiation on transmission of a commercial Cytop polymer optical fibre (Lucina, Asahi Glass Company) is investigated. Spectral dependence of radiation induced attenuation in the investigated fibre is measured in the VIS-NIR spectral region. Besides attenuation increase, radiation is found to increase fibre susceptibility to water as well. While pristine Cytop fibre is rather humidity insensitive, strong humidity related absorption in the NIR region is observed after fibre irradiation. Selective irradiation of separate fibre sections is proposed as a way of fibre humidity sensitization and quasi-distributed water detection is demonstrated using optical time domain reflectometry at 1310 nm.
Humidity is one of principal environmental parameters that plays an important role in various application areas. Using measurement of strain induced in an optical fiber by a water swellable coating represents a promising approach for realization of distributed humidity sensing (DHS). In this work, humidity and temperature response of four different commercial PI-coated fibers and four tight-buffered (TB) fibers is investigated with the aim of evaluating their potential for development of DHS in context of water ingress sensor for high-voltage power cable splices. PI-coated fibers exhibited close-to-linear humidity and temperature response. While the temperature response is relatively coating-independent, magnitude of humidity response was broadly correlated to the relative fiber-to-coating thickness ratio. In contrast, both humidity and temperature response of TB fibers is strongly influenced by buffer type, with Leoni TB900L fiber with Hytrel buffer exhibiting largest humidity and temperature sensitivity. While the response of tight-buffered fibers is generally nonlinear, roughly three-times higher humidity response can be achieved with TB900L compared to the most sensitive PI-coated fiber. Using the TB fiber can be, therefore, advantageous for simpler water detection applications, such as one targeted in this study, when larger sensitivity is more important than the linear response of the sensor.
A systematic study of annealing behavior of drawn PMMA fibers was performed. Annealing Dynamics were investigated under different environmental conditions by fiber longitudinal shrinkage monitoring. The shrinkage process was found to follow a stretched exponential decay function revealing the heterogeneous nature of the underlying molecular dynamics. The complex dependence of the fiber shrinkage on initial degree of molecular alignment in the fiber, annealing time and temperature was investigated and interpreted. Moreover, humidity was shown to have a profound effect on the annealing process, which was not recognized previously. Annealing was also shown to have considerable effect on the fiber mechanical properties associated with the relaxation of molecular alignment in the fiber. The consequences of fiber annealing for the climatic stability of certain polymer optical fiber-based sensors are discussed, emphasizing the importance of fiber controlled pre-annealing with respect to the foreseeable
operating conditions.
In this paper, we present the first results regarding the on-line monitoring of gamma-ray exposure effects on a commercial multi-mode perfluorinated polymer optical fiber (PF-POF), type GigaPOF-50SR from Chromis Fiberoptics. Our focus was to evaluate on-line the radiation induced attenuation (RIA) over a wide spectral range (320 nm – 1700 nm), in order to assess the fiber’s radiation hardness and its possible use in radiation detection. An Ocean Optics QE65000 high sensitivity spectrometer and a StellarNet near-IR spectrometer were used to cover the spectral ranges 200 nm – 1μm and 900 nm – 1.6 μm, respectively. Electron paramagnetic resonance was used to monitor the recovery of the irradiation induced centers at room temperature. The study indicated that the optical fiber can be used as radiation monitor at low dose rates by measuring the attenuation in the UV, while higher dose rates irradiation can be observed by RIA monitoring at specific wavelengths in the visible spectral range.