Optical Fiber Probe Microcantilever Sensor Based on Fabry–Perot Interferometer

Abstract

Optical fiber Fabry–Perot sensors have long been the focus of researchers in sensing applications because of their unique advantages, including highly effective, simple light path, low cost, compact size, and easy fabrication. Microcantilever-based devices have been extensively explored in chemical and biological fields while the interrogation methods are still a challenge. The optical fiber probe microcantilever sensor is constructed with a microcantilever beam on an optical fiber, which opens the door for highly sensitive, as well as convenient readout. In this review, we summarize a wide variety of optical fiber probe microcantilever sensors based on Fabry–Perot interferometer. The operation principle of the optical fiber probe microcantilever sensor is introduced. The fabrication methods, materials, and sensing applications of an optical fiber probe microcantilever sensor with different structures are discussed in detail. The performances of different kinds of fiber probe microcantilever sensors are compared. We also prospect the possible development direction of optical fiber microcantilever sensors.

Vernier-effect-based fiber microcoupler for highly sensitive liquid refractive index sensing

“…Fiber-optical sensors have emerged as a promising candidate for liquid refractive index sensing due to their attractive advantages, such as flexible structural design, ease of integration, and immunity to electromagnetic interference [1][2][3][4]. Nowadays, various fiber sensing configurations based on different optical mechanisms have been designed for measuring liquid RI, including long period grating [5][6][7], fiber Bragg grating [8][9][10], microfiber resonator [11][12][13], microstructure fiber [14][15][16], and mode interferometer [17][18][19]. However, the * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”

Sub-Nanometer Acoustic Vibration Sensing Using a Tapered-Tip Optical Fiber Microcantilever

“…Although this is a very promising technology, the current version has limited detection sensitivity mainly due to the insufficient acoustic response of the regular fibers. Optical fiber microcantilevers can be used as an alternative to regular fibers since they can reach ultrahigh sensitivity in the detection of small signals such as mass, forces, chemicals, and biological species [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. The working principle is based on monitoring the power variations caused by the misalignment between the pre-aligned cantilever and readout component.…”

Fiber Optic Temperature Sensor System Using Air-Filled Fabry–Pérot Cavity with Variable Pressure

“…Temperature is a key parameter that needs to be monitored and controlled precisely in a wide range of applications, including industrial, chemical, structural, biomedical, and environmental aspects. For the last three decades, various techniques have been developed regarding fiber optic temperature sensors such as fiber-Bragg grating (FBG)-based sensors [ 5 ], tapered fiber [ 6 ], waveguide coupling devices using surface plasmon resonance [ 7 ], fiber ring laser demodulation [ 8 ], modified fibers (panda fibers [ 9 ], multicore fiber [ 10 ]), and interferometer-based sensors [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Among these, temperature sensors based on Fabry–Pérot (FP) interferometers have proved to be an attractive option because of their additional advantages of simple structure and easy fabrication.…”

“…Nowadays, different types of FP interferometers are deployed, in terms of their composition and fabrication process. For example, interferometers can belong to the following types (a) fiber-tip: SMF-microfiber [ 11 ], SMF-polyvinyl alcohol [ 12 ]; (b) with diaphragm: FBG-graphene [ 13 , 14 ], MMF-silicon [ 15 ], FBG-fused silica [ 16 ]; (c) without diaphragm [ 17 ]; (d) polymer materials [ 18 ]; (e) inline microcavities [ 19 , 20 ]; (e) multiplexed sensors [ 21 ]; (f) microcantilever [ 22 ], polished materials [ 27 ]. However, each type of sensor has some drawbacks, which limit their application.…”

“…These materials have large values of thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) and thermo-optic coefficient (TOC) compared to their glass material counterparts, resulting in higher temperature resolution. However, the fabrication process often requires complex MEMS techniques [ 15 , 22 ], chemical processing [ 12 , 13 , 14 ], or high-power laser ablation [ 16 ], which is expensive, time consuming, and lacking in reproducibility. Additionally, these sensors show nonlinearity at high temperature because the composite structure’s TOC becomes a complex function of temperature, resulting in a limited operation range [ 18 ].…”