Fabrication of intensity-based Long-Period-Gratings fiber sensor with CO2 Laser

This thesis investigates the fabrication technique and procedures for producing long period grating (LPG) fiber sensors with point-by-point irradiation under a CO2 laser beam. The type of fiber sensor under examination is desirable to be highly sensitive to the variation of the thickness and refractive index of a thin film deposited on the LPGs, making it a promising candidate as a core sensor component in a biosensor system developed for detection and verification of pathogenic bacteria, such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Francisella tularensis, and so on.

We have previously demonstrated that a UV-induced long-period-grating (LPG) based fiber sensor is extremely sensitive to small variation of refractive index (RI) and thickness of the surrounding medium. In this thesis, we will present a CO2 laser and step- stage system that operate automatically under control of a Matlab program to inscribe LPGs with desired grating period and fabrication conditions.

Examples of CO2 laser induced LPGs have been found to exhibit high sensitivity, with transmissive power attenuation of more than 15 dB at the resonant peak of 1402 nm under deposition of Ionic Self-Assembled Monolayer (ISAM) thin film that is around 50 nm in thickness. When tuned to its maximum sensitivity region, this LPG has shown a transmission power reduction of 79% with the deposition of only 1 bilayer of ISAM thin film at the monitored wavelength. This result is comparable in sensitivity with the UV-induced LPGs, yet with the advantage of lower fabrication cost and simplified fabrication procedure.