We report on the fabrication of a planar Bragg grating sensor in bulk Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). The sensor consists of an optical waveguide and a Bragg grating, both written simultaneously into a PMMA chip by a single writing step, for which a phase mask covered by an amplitude mask is placed on top of the PMMA and exposed to the UV radiation of a KrF excimer laser. Depending on the phase mask period, different Bragg gratings reflecting in the telecommunication wavelength range are fabricated and characterized. Reflection and transmission measurements show a narrow reflection band and a high reflectivity of the polymer planar Bragg grating (PPBG). After connecting to a single mode fiber, the portable PPBG based sensor was evaluated for different measurands like humidity and strain. The sensor performance was compared to already existing sensing systems. Due to the obtained results as well as the rapid and cheap fabrication of the sensor chip, the PPBG qualifies for a low cost sensing element. |
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CITATIONS
Cited by 6 scholarly publications.
Polymethylmethacrylate
Fiber Bragg gratings
Polymers
Sensors
Humidity
Polymeric sensors
Waveguides