Fiber Optic Chemical Sensors — An Overveiw

Abstract

In a span of approximately 20 years, fiber optic sensing has grown from a laboratory oddity to a viable analytical field technigue for the detection and monitoring of a wide variety of analytes. One of the reasons for this rapid growth is the range of technigues that can be used for the detection of species. These include changes in absorption, reflection, refraction, phase, polarization, and fluorescence. In general, any chemical or physical reaction that will perturb the light transmission through the optical fiber can be used as the basis for a fiber optic detector. Examples of fiber optic chemical sensors are presented and their advantages over conventional devices are discussed.