GOALI: Nanostructured Sapphire Optical Fiber for Sensing in Harsh Environment

GOALI：用于恶劣环境中传感的纳米结构蓝宝石光纤

• 批准号: 1506179
• 负责人: Henry Du
• 金额: $ 40.67万
• 依托单位: Stevens Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2019-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1506179&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GOALI; Nanostructured; Sapphire; Optical; Fiber

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The excellent potential of sapphire optical fiber for sensing in harsh environments such as those encountered in advanced combustion-based energy generation systems for high operation efficiency and low emission has long been recognized. The lack of viable cladding on sapphire fiber for low-loss light transmission and fiber protection remains the roadblock to real-world applications. This project aims to develop a novel alumina cladding with highly organized nano-sized air channels on sapphire fiber and to understand the associated processing-structure-property-performance correlations for evanescent-field chemical sensing and measurements via a strategy of fiber coating with aluminum followed by its anodization. The success of the project has the potential to overcome the decades-old sapphire fiber cladding challenge as well as offer a myriad of opportunities to transformative sapphire fiber-optic technology especially for sensing under adverse conditions where silica fiber sensors are no longer suitable. This project is carried out in partnership between Stevens Institute of Technology and Fiberguide Industries, Inc. TECHNICAL DETAILS: The inability to fabricate stable and high-quality cladding of controlled optical properties severely hampers the design and development of sapphire fiber sensors for a host of applications, particularly in corrosive environments at high temperatures. This project aims to develop and evaluate nanostructured alumina cladding on sapphire fiber for evanescent-field chemical sensing and measurements. The main objectives are: (1) evaluation of the theoretical correlation between mode-field overlap and cladding nanostructure to guide cladding fabrication; (2) determination of the window of processing parameters for aluminum coating and anodization as well as scale-up at Fiberguide; and (3) establishment and understanding of the interplay between the cladding nanostructure and sensing performance in combustion environment using evanescent-field laser absorption and surface-enhanced Raman scattering as the detection modalities. This project is transformative in that it has the potential to resolve the bottle-neck cladding problem long-faced by sapphire fiber and that the resultant specialty optical fiber may well lead to significant development of sapphire fiber-optic technology. Furthermore, industrial partnership and international collaboration as an integral part of the research activities greatly enriches the educational and research training experiences of the doctoral, undergraduate and high-school scholars participating in this project.

非技术描述：蓝宝石光纤在恶劣环境中进行传感的巨大潜力（例如先进的基于燃烧的能源生成系统中所遇到的环境）的高运行效率和低排放早已得到认可。蓝宝石光纤缺乏可行的包层来实现低损耗光传输和光纤保护仍然是实际应用的障碍。该项目旨在开发一种在蓝宝石光纤上具有高度组织的纳米尺寸空气通道的新型氧化铝包层，并通过随后的铝光纤涂层策略来了解渐逝场化学传感和测量的相关加工-结构-性能-性能相关性通过其阳极氧化。该项目的成功有可能克服数十年来蓝宝石光纤包层挑战，并为变革性蓝宝石光纤技术提供无数机会，特别是在石英光纤传感器不再适用的不利条件下进行传感。该项目是史蒂文斯理工学院和 Fiberguide Industries, Inc. 合作开展的。 技术细节：无法制造稳定且高质量的受控光学特性的包层，严重阻碍了蓝宝石光纤传感器的许多应用的设计和开发，特别是在高温腐蚀环境中。该项目旨在开发和评估蓝宝石光纤上的纳米结构氧化铝包层，用于渐逝场化学传感和测量。主要目标是：（1）评估模场重叠与包层纳米结构之间的理论相关性，以指导包层制造； (2) 确定铝涂层和阳极氧化的加工参数窗口以及 Fiberguide 的放大； (3) 使用倏逝场激光吸收和表面增强拉曼散射作为检测方式，建立和理解燃烧环境中包层纳米结构和传感性能之间的相互作用。该项目具有变革性，因为它有可能解决蓝宝石光纤长期面临的瓶颈包层问题，由此产生的特种光纤很可能会带动蓝宝石光纤技术的重大发展。此外，工业合作和国际合作作为研究活动的有机组成部分，极大地丰富了参与该项目的博士、本科和高中学者的教育和研究培训经验。