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Optical Fiber Sensing and Its Applications
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Optical Fiber Sensing and Its Applications

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 3019

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ki-Joong Kim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), US Department of Energy (DOE), 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236, USA
Interests: nanocomposite thin films; nanomaterials; chemical sensors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fiber optic sensing is a technology that uses optical fibers to measure the physical properties of light as it travels along a fiber; this is in order to detect changes in temperature, strain, vibration (acoustics), and other parameters. This technology has attracted substantial attention globally and has been the subject of research for decades due to its unique advantages, such as its flexible design for in situ and in vivo analysis, its ability to perform the online monitoring of various entities in hostile environments, and its insensitivity to electromagnetic disturbances.

This Special Issue aims to collect articles that present the novel and innovative application of sensors and devices based on optical fiber sensors.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

  • Novel designs and fabrication techniques for optical fiber sensors.
  • The integration of functional materials in optical fiber sensors.
  • New chemical sensing materials for methane, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, etc.
  • The application of optical fiber sensing in environmental and industrial monitoring.
  • Fiber optic-based distributed sensing systems.

We invite researchers and practitioners to contribute original research articles, review articles, short communications, and letters that advance our understanding and utilization of optical fiber sensing technology.

Dr. Ki-Joong Kim
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2600 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

  • optical fiber sensing
  • fiber optic sensor design
  • environmental monitoring
  • distributed sensing
  • chemical sensing materials

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2492 KB  
Article
Monitoring Groundwater Thermal Treatment Using a Fiber-Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing Network
by Matthew W. Becker, Francine Cason, Megan Ward-Baranyay, Craig Divine, Jonah Munholland and Erik Zardouzian
Sensors 2025, 25(23), 7105; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25237105 - 21 Nov 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1022
Abstract
Groundwater contaminated with organic chemicals can be treated by raising the subsurface temperature, thereby enhancing the rate of microbial degradation. This process requires careful monitoring through space and time to ensure that heat is being delivered to the most contaminated regions of the [...] Read more.
Groundwater contaminated with organic chemicals can be treated by raising the subsurface temperature, thereby enhancing the rate of microbial degradation. This process requires careful monitoring through space and time to ensure that heat is being delivered to the most contaminated regions of the groundwater system. Here, we demonstrate the effectiveness of a fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system as a high spatial and temporal resolution monitoring strategy. The DTS sensing system required the installation of fiber optic cable in the subsurface. Boreholes were drilled with hollow casings, a fiber optic cable was inserted into the casings, and then, the casings were withdrawn to allow the formation to collapse around the fiber. The fiber was then fusion-spliced into a single continuous fiber that could be interrogated by a Raman-based DTS unit. Temperature measurements were collected at 30 min intervals over a 575 m span with 0.25 m spatial sampling, resulting in over 110,000 temperature data points per day. With this high resolution monitoring the development of thermal plumes emanating from solar-heated borehole heat exchangers could be closely monitored. The pseudo-3D monitoring network showed the lateral and upward migration of the induced thermal plumes over time. This information was valuable for assuring the heated groundwater was contacting the intended treatment zone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Fiber Sensing and Its Applications)
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19 pages, 2210 KB  
Article
A Synthetic Pathway for Producing Carbon Dots for Detecting Iron Ions Using a Fiber Optic Spectrometer
by Ariana Adkisson, Dean Gouramanis, Ki-Joong Kim, Ward Burgess, Nicholas Siefert and Scott Crawford
Sensors 2025, 25(19), 6066; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25196066 - 2 Oct 2025
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1267
Abstract
Iron detection is of growing importance in the critical minerals sector, where unwanted iron ions are typically removed during the processing of target critical metals. The ideal sensor should utilize inexpensive, scalable materials along with a low-cost, robust, and easy-to-use analysis platform. Here, [...] Read more.
Iron detection is of growing importance in the critical minerals sector, where unwanted iron ions are typically removed during the processing of target critical metals. The ideal sensor should utilize inexpensive, scalable materials along with a low-cost, robust, and easy-to-use analysis platform. Here, we demonstrate a simple acid–base synthesis of luminescent iron-responsive carbon dots by reacting ethanolamine, phosphoric acid, and m-phenylenediamine. The carbon dots exhibit selective, iron-specific emission quenching, with the ability to detect part-per-billion levels of iron ions even in 0.1 M HCl. After benchmarking the purified materials using a commercial spectrometer, a “low-cost” process is demonstrated in which carbon dots with minimal purification are coupled with a portable fiber-optic spectrometer for analyzing iron content. Carbon dot-coated paper strips are also evaluated as another convenient platform for iron analysis. Taken together, the sensing material and platforms demonstrated here are well-suited for detecting trace quantities of iron in environmentally relevant conditions, with potential applications in tracking iron removal processes during critical mineral production as one exciting area of interest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Fiber Sensing and Its Applications)
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