Optical fiber FP (Fabry-Perot) air pressure sensor with optical vernier effect and preparation method thereof
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of optical fiber sensing and communication, and particularly relates to an optical fiber FP (Fabry-Perot) air pressure sensor with an optical vernier effect and a preparation method thereof.
Background
The air pressure sensor is used as one of the pressure sensors, has wide application value in the aspects of national defense, maritime affairs, aerospace, civil use and the like, and even is embedded into some smart phones. Fiber optic gas pressure sensors based on Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) are of great interest due to their unique advantages. As is known, an optical fiber FPI generally includes a fabry-perot cavity formed by an optical fiber end surface and a diaphragm end surface, and when the fabry-perot cavity is acted by external air pressure, the cavity of the fabry-perot cavity changes, and air pressure measurement can be achieved by detecting a reflected light interference spectrum change caused by a cavity length change. Such as single mode fiber pigtailsThe micro-cavity is cut off a part and then is mixed with SiO2The film is welded to form an FP cavity, and the structure can be used for low-voltage sensing, and the sensitivity can reach 1.1rad/40 kPa. Ma et al have improved FP chamber structure, and the mode of pressurization discharges to the glass pipe in the glass pipe after single mode fiber and glass pipe fusion joint, forms a microbubble, and this bubble is used for the atmospheric pressure to measure, and sensitivity can improve to 315 pm/MPa. Liao et al simplified the manufacturing process, deliberately formed a bubble during single mode fiber fusion, then fused the fiber at one end of the bubble in the fusion splicer, continued the discharge to thin the bubble wall, the thinnest wall thickness was 320 nm. The air pressure acts on the bubble wall to deform the bubble, the cavity length changes to cause the wavelength to shift, and the sensitivity of the sensor is improved to 1036pm/Mpa, but the structural strength is too low because the bubble wall is too thin. Therefore, bubble-based pressure sensors can only measure low pressures and are not sensitive enough.
However, the optical fiber FP pressure sensor in the prior art is generally large in size and complex in processing technology, and is not suitable for the current trend of gradually miniaturizing the sensor, for example, it is more difficult to install such pressure sensor on a smart phone. Although the FP cavity can be realized by the techniques such as thin film evaporation and femtosecond laser micromachining, certain defects still exist in the aspects of safety, manufacturing process, manufacturing cost and the like. For example, the thin film evaporation method generally uses a chemical vapor deposition technique to perform a chemical reaction on the surface of the optical fiber by using one or more gas-phase compounds or simple substances containing thin film elements to form a thin film, and the technique can be performed at medium or high temperature, normal pressure or vacuum. However, the thickness of the thin film coating needs to be precisely controlled, and the thin film deposition layer generally has a columnar crystal structure and is not resistant to bending, and the technique is time-consuming and the equipment and instrument costs are expensive. The femtosecond laser micromachining technology can punch holes at a quartz capillary tube cladding, so that punched air holes are connected with a central air hole to form an FP cavity, and also can directly punch holes at a single-mode optical fiber core and then are welded with another single-mode optical fiber, so that a bubble is formed in an arc discharge mode of a welding machine to generate the FP cavity.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to overcome the defects of the prior art and provides the optical fiber FP air pressure sensor with the optical vernier effect and the preparation method thereof, and the optical fiber FP sensor has small volume and high detection sensitivity; the preparation method is simple and easy to implement and low in cost.
In order to solve the technical problem, the invention adopts the following technical scheme.
The invention discloses an optical fiber FP air pressure sensor with an optical vernier effect, which is characterized by comprising a single mode optical fiber, a quartz capillary tube (HCF) and a Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF); the right end of the quartz capillary tube is connected with one end of the single-mode fiber in a fusion mode, and the left end of the quartz capillary tube is connected with one end of the photonic crystal fiber in a fusion mode; the other end of the photonic crystal fiber is directly connected with the outside, and the hole-shaped structure of the photonic crystal fiber is convenient for outside gas to enter the cavity of the optical fiber FP sensor, so that the quartz capillary and the photonic crystal fiber form two Fabry-Perot resonant cavities with vernier effect.
The length of the quartz capillary is greater than that of the photonic crystal fiber, and the ratio of the sum of the optical paths of the quartz capillary and the photonic crystal fiber to the optical path of the quartz capillary is close to 1.1-1.3: 1.
The optical path of the quartz capillary tube is the product of the refractive index of the air hole in the quartz capillary tube and the length of the quartz capillary tube (air hole).
The optical path of the photonic crystal fiber is the product of the refractive index of the fiber core of the photonic crystal fiber and the length of the photonic crystal fiber.
The inner diameter of the quartz capillary tube is 40-75 μm, and the outer diameter is 125 μm.
The length of the quartz capillary tube is 80-120 mu m.
The photonic crystal fiber is a 6-hole or porous photonic crystal fiber.
The length of the photonic crystal fiber is 20-40 μm, and the outer diameter is 125 μm.
The invention discloses a preparation method of an optical fiber FP (Fabry-Perot) air pressure sensor with an optical vernier effect, which is characterized by comprising the following steps of:
7-1) cutting off the two sections of single-mode optical fibers and quartz capillaries stripped of the coating layers by using a cutting knife to ensure the end surfaces to be smooth, and respectively placing the single-mode optical fibers and the quartz capillaries in an optical fiber fusion splicer built-in clamp; one end of the single-mode optical fiber is welded with the right end of the quartz capillary;
7-2) cutting a quartz capillary tube with the length ranging from 80 to 120 mu m near the welding point by using a precision cutting device;
7-3) welding the cut left end of the quartz capillary tube with one end of a Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF);
7-4) cutting the photonic crystal fiber with the length ranging from 20 to 40 mu m near the welding point by using a precision cutting device again; the other end of the photonic crystal fiber is directly connected with the outside, and the hole-shaped structure of the photonic crystal fiber is convenient for outside gas to enter the cavity of the optical fiber FP sensor, so that the quartz capillary and the photonic crystal fiber form two Fabry-Perot resonant cavities (FP cavities) with vernier effect, and the superposition of the 2 FP cavities and the lengths of the two optical fibers strictly influence the reflection spectrum;
7-5) sealing the prepared structure into a sealed air chamber of the air pressure pump.
The welding processes are respectively;
single mode fiber-quartz capillary fusion process: the arc discharge range is 70-80, the discharge time is 300-350ms, and the premelting time is 100-160 ms;
welding program of quartz capillary-photonic crystal fiber: the arc discharge range is 60-65, the discharge time is 250-290ms, and the premelting time is 100-120 ms.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects and advantages:
1. the sensor of the present invention utilizes fabry-perot resonators with different free spectral ranges to form a new sensing system. The free spectral range of the working principle of the novel sensing system is the least common multiple of the free spectral ranges of the two independent Fabry-Perot resonant cavities. Therefore, the new sensing system has a large free spectral range, high test sensitivity and a large measurement range.
In a high-pressure environment, the open cavity type structural design balances the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the cavity, avoids the cavity damage caused by the high pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the FP cavity and ensures that the sensor can operate under the high-pressure condition.
2. The preparation method is simple and feasible, only two steps of welding and precise cutting are adopted, and the difficulty is greatly reduced. The method can be based on the existing laboratory equipment instruments, namely an optical fiber fusion splicer and an optical fiber cutter, does not need high-cost instruments, and has high test sensitivity.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an optical fiber FP barometric sensor with optical vernier effect according to the present invention. The optical fiber comprises 1 single-mode optical fiber, 2 quartz capillary and 3 photonic crystal optical fiber.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method for manufacturing an optical fiber FP pressure sensor with optical vernier effect according to the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the air pressure detection of an embodiment of the optical fiber FP air pressure sensor with optical vernier effect of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a reflection spectrum and its lower envelope chart tested by an embodiment of the optical fiber FP air pressure sensor with optical vernier effect of the invention.
Fig. 5(a) and (b) are respectively a pressure sensitivity test and a linear relationship diagram of the pressure sensitivity test and the wavelength of an embodiment of the optical fiber FP pressure sensor with the optical vernier effect.
Fig. 6(a) and (b) are respectively a barometric pressure sensitivity test of a reflection spectrum envelope and a linear relationship thereof with a wavelength for an embodiment of the optical fiber FP barometric pressure sensor with optical vernier effect according to the present invention.
Detailed Description
The invention is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings:
fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an optical fiber FP barometric sensor with optical vernier effect according to the present invention. The embodiment comprises a single mode fiber 1, a quartz capillary 2 and a photonic crystal fiber 3. The quartz capillary tube 2 and the photonic crystal fiber 3 have the same outer diameter as the single-mode fiber 1, and are 125 micrometers, and the inner diameter of the quartz capillary tube 2 is 40 micrometers. The cladding of the photonic crystal fiber 3 is formed by arranging six air holes in a triangular mode, the diameter of each air hole is 3.4 microns, the fiber core is formed by deleting one air hole, and the diameter of the fiber core is 10 microns.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method for manufacturing an optical fiber FP pressure sensor with optical vernier effect according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the steps are:
the single mode fiber 1 with the coating layer removed is welded with a quartz capillary 2 with the inner diameter of 40 microns, and the length of the quartz capillary 2 is about 100 microns; and then the quartz capillary tube 2 is welded with the photonic crystal fiber 3 in sequence, the end surface is ensured to be smooth, the length of the photonic crystal fiber 3 is about 30 micrometers, and the vernier effect can occur because the cavity length of the photonic crystal fiber 3 is far shorter than that of the quartz capillary tube 2. The optical vernier effect can effectively increase the air pressure sensitivity of the sensor. The other end of the sensor is connected with one section of the optical fiber circulator, and the broadband light source 5 and the spectrometer 6 are respectively connected with the other two ends of the optical fiber circulator.
Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the air pressure detection of an embodiment of the optical fiber FP air pressure sensor with optical vernier effect of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, in the air pressure sensing experiment, the manufactured air pressure sensor 4 was placed in a well-sealed air pressure pump, the handle of the air pressure pump was pressed to increase the air pressure in the sealed air chamber, the applied air pressure was read by the air pressure gauge, and the air pressure was adjusted by a fine adjustment. Since the refractive index of the gas increases with the increase of the gas pressure, the optical path difference entering the chamber changes, and the spectrometer 6 records the interference spectrum of the sensor in real time. The air pressure of the space to be measured is determined by detecting the drift amount of the interference spectrum envelope, and the sensor has higher sensitivity than an air pressure sensor without the vernier effect due to the vernier effect.
The invention relates to an optical fiber FP air pressure sensor with an optical vernier effect, which adopts the following method to detect air pressure and comprises the following steps: placing the sensor in a closed air chamber of a pneumatic pump, and keeping the pressure in the air chamber to be 0; using a broadband light source 5, emitting light to the sensor through a transmission fiber; when incident light passes through the two F-P cavity reflecting surfaces of the structure, reflected light is formed; reflected light is transmitted into the spectrometer through the circulator, and a reflected light optical signal is demodulated; pressing the handle of the pneumatic pump to increase the pressure, waiting for 10min for the air pressure to stabilize, and repeating the steps.
Fig. 4 is a reflection spectrum and its lower envelope diagram tested by an embodiment of the optical fiber FP pressure sensor with optical vernier effect of the present invention, so that the corresponding interference spectrum and envelope of the sensor can be seen.
Fig. 5(a) and (b) are respectively a pressure sensitivity test and a linear relationship diagram of the pressure sensitivity test and the wavelength of an embodiment of the optical fiber FP pressure sensor with the optical vernier effect.
Wherein, fig. 5(a) shows the corresponding air pressure sensitivity test curve of the sensor, and each curve corresponds to the interference spectrum under each pressure of 0.1-0.6 MPa.
FIG. 5(b) shows the linear relationship between the air pressure variation of the sensor and the wavelength, and therefore, the sensitivity of the sensor to the air pressure can reach 7.257 nm/MPa.
Fig. 6(a) and (b) are respectively a barometric pressure sensitivity test of a reflection spectrum envelope and a linear relationship thereof with a wavelength for an embodiment of the optical fiber FP barometric pressure sensor with optical vernier effect according to the present invention.
The curves in FIG. 6(a) correspond to the envelope of the interference spectrum at pressures of 0.1-0.6 MPa.
As can be seen from FIG. 6(b), the sensitivity of the sensor to gas pressure reached 20.286 nm/MPa.
In summary, the invention provides an optical fiber FP pressure sensor with vernier effect and a preparation method thereof, wherein a single-mode optical fiber-quartz capillary-photonic crystal optical fiber is sequentially welded to form an FP cavity structure, a commercial optical fiber welding machine is used, the discharge time and the discharge intensity of electrodes are controlled, two types of optical fibers are cascaded, a precision cutting device is used for cutting the optical fibers, the length of the optical fibers is strictly controlled, the vernier effect is generated, and the optical fiber FP pressure sensor based on the vernier effect with high sensitivity is realized. The invention adopts the structural design of the open-cavity type ultra-short FP cavity, and has the following advantages: when incident light enters the interface surface of the air hole of the single mode fiber and the quartz capillary, because a part of the incident light with different refractive indexes of media (one side is a fiber core and the other side is air) at the two sides of the interface is reflected, an interference effect is generated with the incident light. And the other part of the incident light is continuously transmitted, the reflected light is reflected again at the interface between the quartz capillary air hole and the fiber core of the photonic crystal fiber because of the difference of the media at the two sides, the reflected light interferes with the incident light again, and the incident light also interferes with the reflected light reflected at the end face of the photonic crystal, so that two interference spectrum superposition patterns are displayed on a spectrometer, and the superposition interference spectrum shape is influenced by the important length of two FP cavities. If the length of the quartz capillary is too long, the attenuation of incident light in the air hole of the quartz capillary is large, and sufficient contrast cannot be ensured; if the length is too short, although the contrast can be improved, the vernier effect cannot be guaranteed, and under the condition of achieving the vernier effect, the contrast and the envelope of the superposition interference spectrum under different optical path ratios are greatly different. The contrast of the superposition interference spectrum tested by the invention can reach 8.5dB at most, the envelope is obvious and beautiful, and the test and data analysis are convenient. The optical fiber FP air pressure sensor has the advantages of small volume, simple and convenient preparation, strong adaptability and high sensitivity. The sensor has potential application in testing the refractive index of a special gas, measuring the wind speed and the like.