Optical fiber coupled photonic crystal slab strain sensor, system and method of fabrication and use
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsMichael A. CARRALERO, Ty Aaby Larsen, Priya Maratukulam
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Abstract
The present disclosure is generally directed to a strain sensor, system and method of fabrication and use that includes an optical fiber, an optical signal generator that transmits an optical signal through the optical fiber, at least two photonic crystal slabs within the optical fiber separated by a first segment of optical fiber, a photo-detector that detects a reflected optical signal from the at least two photonic crystal slabs, and a processor that computes a mechanical strain over the first segment of optical fiber based on the reflected optical signal detected by the photo-detector.
Claims20
A method of measuring a mechanical strain, comprising:
- emitting, with an optical signal generator, an optical signal;
- receiving, at an optical fiber, the optical signal from the optical signal generator;
- disposing at least two photonic crystal slabs within the optical fiber and separated by a first segment of the optical fiber, wherein each of the at least two photonic crystal slabs includes a plurality of holes extending from a first surface to a second surface of the respective photonic crystal slab, wherein the first surface and the second surface of each of the at least two photonic crystal slabs are arranged to have a zero or substantially zero angle of incidence relative to an optical axis of the optical fiber;
- detecting, with a photo-detector, a reflected optical signal from the at least two photonic crystal slabs;
- and
- computing, with a processor, configured to compute the mechanical strain occurring over the first segment of the optical fiber based on the reflected optical signal detected by the photo-detector.
A method, comprising:
- disposing at least two photonic crystal slabs within an optical fiber and separated by a first segment of the optical fiber, wherein each of the at least two photonic crystal slabs includes a plurality of holes extending from a first surface to a second surface of the respective photonic crystal slab, wherein the first surface and the second surface of each of the at least two photonic crystal slabs are arranged to have a zero or substantially zero angle of incidence relative to an optical axis of the optical fiber,
- wherein the optical fiber is configured to receive an optical signal emitted from an optical signal generator, and the optical signal is configured to be reflected from the at least two photonic crystal slabs, and the optical fiber is configured to be coupled to a photo-detector that can detect the reflected optical signal.
A method, comprising:
- joining a first photonic crystal lattice to a first end of a first segment of an optical fiber;
- joining one of a first end or a second end of a second segment of the optical fiber to the first photonic crystal lattice;
- and
- joining a second photonic crystal lattice to the other end of the second segment,
- wherein the first and the second photonic crystal lattices form a Fabry-Perot (etalon) Interferometer within the optical fiber between the first end and second end of the second segment of the optical fiber, wherein the first and the second optical fibers being fused silica communication grade optical fibers, wherein each of the first and the second photonic crystal lattices includes a plurality of holes extending from a first surface to a second surface of the respective one of the first and the second photonic crystal lattices, wherein the first surfaces and the second surfaces of each are arranged to have a zero or substantially zero angle of incidence relative to an optical axis of the first and the second optical fibers, wherein each of the plurality of holes having a diameter in a range from 0.25 microns to 1.0 micron.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.