“…The exposed core region serves as an ATR element that can be used for absorbance measurements to detect volatile organic compounds (Blair et al, 1997), probe dye solutions (Ruddy et al, 1990), monitor methane gas (Tai et al, 1987) and ammonium ion (Malins et al, 1998) concentrations, and determine solution pH using indicator doped sol-gel coatings (Gupta & Sharma, 1997;MacCraith, 1993), or an indicator doped polymer film. (Egami et al, 1996) Several investigators have worked to further increase the sensitivity of the de-clad cylindrical core fiber optic sensors by tapering the fiber optic (Guo & Albin, 2003;Gupta et al, 1994;Mackenzie & Payne, 1990;Mignani et al, 1998) or bending the sensing region (i.e. into a U-shape).…”