near infrared characterization of hetero-core optical fiber spr sensors coated with ta2o5 film and their applications近红外表征hetero-core光纤spr传感器ta2o5涂膜处理和他们的应用程序.pdfVIP

Sensors 2012, 12, 2208-2218; doi:10.3390/s120202208 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Near Infrared Characterization of Hetero-Core Optical Fiber SPR Sensors Coated with Ta O Film and Their Applications 2 5 Keiju Takagi * and Kazuhiro Watanabe Department of Information Systems Science, Faculty of Engineering, Soka University, 1-236, Tangi-machi, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-8577, Japan; E-Mail: eng-office@t.soka.ac.jp * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: e08D5202@soka.ac.jp; Tel./Fax: +81-426-91-9421. Received: 19 January 2012; in revised form: 6 February 2012 / Accepted: 9 February 2012 / Published: 15 February 2012 Abstract: This paper describes the characteristics of optical fiber sensors with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) at 1,310 nm in which the scattering loss of silica optical fiber is low. SPR operation in the infrared wavelength range is achieved by coating a thin tantalum pentaoxide (Ta O ) film. The novelty of this paper lies in the verification of how the 2 5 hetero-core scheme could be operated as a commercial base candidate in the sense of easy fabrication, sufficient mechanical strength, and significant sensitivity as a liquid detector under the basis of a low loss transmission network in the near infrared wavelength region. The effect of Ta2O5 layer thickness has been experimentally revealed in the wave