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This paper considers the impact of recent developments in polymer optical fibre (POF) and its application in optical fibre sensors and optical measurement. A discussion of techniques developed for POF-based sensors and devices, and their applications includes sensors to measure flow, biofilm growth, turbidity, toxicity, humidity, rotation and fluorescence. Techniques to photoinduce refractive index changes and physical gratings into POF, and chemically to remove the cladding and taper plastic optical fibres are described, along with the use of fluorescent dye-doped plastic optical fibres (FPOF) in sensors and devices.

Two long-term environmental monitoring plastic optical fibre (POF) sensors are described, using light intensity modulation. An evanescent field biofouling sensor was developed and characterised with sensitivity ±0.007 refractive index units or 0.5% below n ¼ 1.4 and ±0.002 refractive index units or 0.15% above n ¼ 1.4. A tapered POF was developed and tested as a strain sensor, which demonstrated a significant proportion of excellent linearity and exhibited good agreement with measured strain values. The POF strain sensor appeared to be well-behaved in that it showed little data scatter and was able to monitor strains up to 1.4% without failure. These two applications clearly demonstrate the potential POF sensors have for cheap, on-line continuous environmental monitoring.

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