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Photonics
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Advances in Polymer Optical Fiber Sensors: Materials, Designs and Applications
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Advances in Polymer Optical Fiber Sensors: Materials, Designs and Applications

A special issue of Photonics (ISSN 2304-6732).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 April 2025 | Viewed by 1910

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Xuehao Hu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electromagnetism and Telecommunication, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium
Interests: fiber Bragg gratings; tilted fiber Bragg gratings; polymer optical fibers; SPR; femtosecond laser; fiber sensors; surface plasmon resonance; biosensors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, polymer optical fibers (POFs) have gained significant attention due to their large sensitivity to external environments, biocompatibility, and easy handling, among other advantages. Their specific properties make them suitable for a wide range of sensing applications, such as environmental monitoring, biomedical sensing, and structural health monitoring. The use of polymers as fiber materials allows for cost-effective manufacturing and customization to meet specific sensing requirements. The purpose of this Special Issue is to present advances in fundamental research, development of technologies, as well as innovative sensing applications of POFs.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, theoretical and experimental original work on the following:

  • POF fabrication with new materials or structures;
  • Manufacturing of sensor devices;
  • Intensity-based sensors;
  • Phase-shift-based sensors;
  • Grating-based sensors;
  • Interference-based sensors;
  • Optical time-domain reflectometry sensors:
  • Surface Plasmon resonance sensors:
  • Chemical and biological sensors;
  • Vital signs monitoring;
  • Structural health monitoring;
  • Environmental monitoring;
  • Sensor networking and distributed sensing.

Dr. Xuehao Hu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Photonics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • polymer
  • polymer optical fibers
  • fiber sensors
  • surface Plasmon resonance
  • gratings
  • optical time-domain reflectometry

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 7263 KiB  
Article
Inscription and Thermal Stability of Fiber Bragg Gratings in Hydrogen-Loaded Optical Fibers Using a 266 nm Pulsed Laser
by Xiangxi Zhu, Zixuan Xin, Haoming Zhu, Hongye Wang, Xin Cheng, Hwa-Yaw Tam, Hang Qu and Xuehao Hu
Photonics 2024, 11(11), 1092; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11111092 - 20 Nov 2024
Viewed by 667
Abstract
Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have gained substantial research interest due to their exceptional sensing capabilities. Traditionally, FBG fabrication has required the use of pre-hydrogenated fibers and high-cost laser systems such as excimer lasers at 193 nm or femtosecond lasers. In this study, we [...] Read more.
Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) have gained substantial research interest due to their exceptional sensing capabilities. Traditionally, FBG fabrication has required the use of pre-hydrogenated fibers and high-cost laser systems such as excimer lasers at 193 nm or femtosecond lasers. In this study, we present the first instance of FBG inscription in hydrogen-loaded, standard single-mode silica optical fibers using a more affordable 266 nm solid-state pulsed laser combined with a scanning phase mask lithography technique. We systematically explored the effects of pulse energy and scanning speed on the quality and spectral characteristics of the gratings, achieving reflectivities as high as 99.81%. Additionally, we tracked the spectral evolution during the FBG inscription process, demonstrating uniform growth of the core mode. We also investigated the stability of the core mode during a 24-h thermal annealing process up to 150 °C. The sensitivity was 10.7 pm/°C in the range of 0 to 130 °C. Furthermore, strain measurement was conducted based on the FBG annealed at 100 °C, showing a sensitivity of 0.943 pm/µε in the range of 0 to 1667 µε. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer Optical Fiber Sensors: Materials, Designs and Applications)
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9 pages, 4275 KiB  
Communication
Solution Doping of PMMA-Based Step-Index Polymer Optical Fibers by Rhodamine B Near Glass Transition Temperature of PMMA
by Yinhua Ma, Dewen Fu and Zhi-Feng Zhang
Photonics 2024, 11(10), 966; https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics11100966 - 15 Oct 2024
Viewed by 722
Abstract
Solution doping is a facile approach to fabricating photoactive polymer optical fibers (POFs). However, previous studies reveal that only the cladding of step-index POFs can be doped by the solution doping method in methanol or aqueous solutions, whereas the fiber core is hardly [...] Read more.
Solution doping is a facile approach to fabricating photoactive polymer optical fibers (POFs). However, previous studies reveal that only the cladding of step-index POFs can be doped by the solution doping method in methanol or aqueous solutions, whereas the fiber core is hardly doped. To dope the fiber core as well as the cladding, this study attempts to dope PMMA-based step-index POFs by raising the doping temperatures to near the Tg of PMMA. The results show that a considerable amount of rhodamine B (RhB) is doped in the fiber core, though the amount is still much less than that in the cladding. The highest content in the fiber core is 0.479 mg/g, which is achieved by doping the POFs in water at 110 °C for 8 h. At the same condition, the RhB content of the cladding is 11.5 mg/g. It is found that the high-temperature doping process leads to dramatic axial shrinkage and radial expansion of the POFs, due to the relaxation of the fiber core. The wrinkled cladding after doping suggests that the macromolecule orientation of the core is much higher than that of the cladding, and high orientation should be the main reason why the core is much more difficult to dope than the cladding. Additionally, the doping process at 90 °C in water does not increase the fiber loss regardless of the tremendous POF structure change. In short, the core of PMMA-based step-index POFs can be doped at a temperature near the Tg of the PMMA, making the solution doping technique more practicable for POF doping. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer Optical Fiber Sensors: Materials, Designs and Applications)
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