Plastic Optical Fiber Sensor for Detection of Ethanol Concentrations

An optimized study of tapered polymer optical fiber (POF) for measurement of different concentration of ethanol in deionized water (0.5%-3.5%) is proposed and demonstrated. This sensor operated based on evanescent wave absorption principle. The cladding of PMMA based POF is removed using organic solvents which can be used to create tapered POF. The unclad length around 1 cm and 3 cm as well as the waist diameters of POF in the range of 5 mm and 8 mm were compared for their efficiency as an ethanol sensor based on power output ratio values. Tapered POF with smaller waist diameter and longer tapered length showed higher sensitivity as ethanol sensor. Therefore, by tailoring the length and tapered diameter of POF, high sensitivity of ethanol sensor can be fabricated.