Fabrication of tapered single mode fiber by chemical etching and used as a chemical sensor based on evanescent field absorption

Abstract

Single mode tapered fiber (SMTF) has been fabricated with core diameter of 8 μm and reduced cladding diameter up to 11 μm by hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching technique. To obtain the required cladding diameter, the time of etching has been optimized by using different HF concentrations. The mechanism as well as kinetics path of etching reaction on standard optical fiber is discussed. This study is related to surface catalyzed dissociation of HF followed by direct reaction with adsorbate molecules and the surface silicon oxide molecules. The etched tapered fibers are then packaged on quartz substrate to use as sensor element. Finally, the etched fiber is used as an element within chemical sensor based on evanescent field absorption. In this experiment, a 419-ppm cobalt nitrate solution is used for sensing.