Hybrid Miniature Fabry–Perot Sensor with Dual Optical Cavities for Simultaneous Pressure and Temperature Measurements

Abstract

We present a novel hybrid miniature dual-cavity Fabry-Perot sensor for simultaneous pressure and temperature measurements. The pressure sensing cavity is composed of an UV-molded cavity covered by a metal/polymer composite diaphragm for achieving a high pressure sensitivity while maintaining a miniature sensor size. Another intrinsic polymer/silica cavity is adopted for temperature sensing, which enables a high temperature sensitivity even with a short cavity length due to the large thermal expansion of the polymer. The sensor is fabricated by using a unique UV molding process with simple and safe procedures. The overall sensor size is around 150 μm in diameter and 343 μm in length. Experimental studies show that the sensor exhibits a good linearity over a pressure range of 6.89 to 27.58 kPa with a pressure sensitivity of 0.0122 μm/kPa at 26 °C, and a temperature range of 26.0 °C to 50.0 °C with a temperature sensitivity of 0.0029 μm/°C. An optical signal processing method is developed to retrieve the two cavity length changes, which is demonstrated to have a better resolution and a faster speed than the conventional method. The sensor is expected to benefit many fronts that require simultaneous pressure and temperature measurements with minimum intrusiveness, especially for biomedical applications.