(Elsevier, 2011) Ruiz Zamarreño, Carlos; López, S.; Hernáez Sáenz de Zaitigui, Miguel; Del Villar, Ignacio; Matías Maestro, Ignacio; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua
This work presents the fabrication of optical fiber refractometers based on indium tin oxide (ITO) coatings with
response in the visible spectral region. ITO thin-films have been sputtered by employing a rotating mechanism that
enables the fabrication of smooth homogeneous coatings onto the optical fiber core. The ITO coated optical fiber
devices present several resonances in the visible and infra-red region. These resonances show high optical power
attenuations (more than 10 dB) in the visible spectral region, which produces changes in the colour of the output
visible light. Therefore, since these resonances shift as a function of the surrounding medium refractive index
(SMRI), it is feasible to determine the refractive index of the outer medium in contact with the ITO coating by simply
monitoring the chromatic coordinates of the visible output light.