Open Access
From superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic surfaces by means of polymeric Layer-by-Layer films
(Elsevier, 2015) López Torres, Diego; Elosúa Aguado, César; Hernáez Sáenz de Zaitigui, Miguel; Goicoechea Fernández, Javier; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa
Open Access
Contribution to the development of optical fibre sensors based on microstructured optical fibres to detect gases and volatile organic compounds
(2019) López Torres, Diego; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; Elosúa Aguado, César; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua, 2016/PI012
Desde la primera publicación relacionada con las fibras micro estructuradas (MOFs), el desarrollo de sensores basados en fibra óptica (OFSs), que utilizan este tipo de fibras, se ha visto incrementado atrayendo el interés de numerosos grupos de investigación debido al importante papel que juegan en numerosas aplicaciones. Debido a sus propiedades y estructuras únicas, las MOFs son muy útiles en aplicaciones ópticas de sensado, especialmente de gases y compuestos orgánicos volátiles (VOCs). Por estas razones, esta tesis doctoral propone la utilización de este tipo de fibras para generar y desarrollar nuevas estructuras y montajes, capaces de detectar estos parámetros, gases y VOCs. Además, se han realizado diferentes estudios y se han utilizado diferentes técnicas (destacando la transformada rápida de Fourier (FFT) y la multiplexación WDM…), para mejorar las características de los sensores, intentando conseguir de esta manera que el sistema final fuera lo más competitivo posible.
Open Access
Enhancing sensitivity of photonic crystal fiber interferometric humidity sensor by the thickness of SnO2 thin films
(Elsevier, 2017) López Torres, Diego; Elosúa Aguado, César; Villatoro, Joel; Zubia, Joseba; Rothhardt, Manfred; Schuster, K.; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa
Open Access
Humidity, gas, and volatile organic compound sensors
(Wiley, 2020) Elosúa Aguado, César; López Torres, Diego; Alojado según Res. CNEAI 5/12/23 (ANECA); Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren
Open Access
Optical sensors based on lossy-mode resonances
(Elsevier Science, 2017) Matías Maestro, Ignacio; Ascorbe Muruzabal, Joaquín; Acha Morrás, Nerea de; López Torres, Diego; Zubiate Orzanco, Pablo; Sánchez Zábal, Pedro; Urrutia Azcona, Aitor; Socorro Leránoz, Abián Bentor; Rivero Fuente, Pedro J.; Hernáez Sáenz de Zaitigui, Miguel; Elosúa Aguado, César; Goicoechea Fernández, Javier; Bariáin Aisa, Cándido; Corres Sanz, Jesús María; Ruiz Zamarreño, Carlos; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; Del Villar, Ignacio; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC
Open Access
Photonic crystal fiber interferometer coated with a PAH/PAA nanolayer as humidity sensor
(Elsevier, 2017) López Torres, Diego; Elosúa Aguado, César; Villatoro, Joel; Zubia, Joseba; Rothhardt, Manfred; Schuster, K.; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC
In this paper, an optical fiber interferometric humidity sensor is presented. The device consists of 1 cmlong segment of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) spliced to standard single mode fibers (SMFs), forming an interferometer: the two collapsed interfaces between PCF and SMF segments produce the excitation and recombination of core and cladding modes. The latter interact with a poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) polymeric nanocoating deposited on the PCF by the well-established layer-by-layer nano assembly (LbL) technique. Humidity modifies the index of the polymeric nanolayer which in turns alters the cladding modes along the PCF segment and causes a detectable shift to the interference pattern. A study of different nanocoting thicknesses is presented in order to obtain the best possible sensibility for the sensor. Furthermore, the interrogation of the humidity sensor is presented not only by the conventional study of the spectrum shift amplitude, but also making use of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), which yields a linearization of the device response. The sensor here presented is reproducible, can resolve 0.074% of relative humidity (RH) and operates in the 20–95% RH range. Moreover, it exhibits response time of 0.3 s, a negligible cross sensitivity to temperature as well as long term stability.
Open Access
Title enhancement of the sensitivity of a volatile organic compounds MOF-sensor by means of its structure
(MDPI, 2017) López Torres, Diego; López Aldaba, Aitor; Elosúa Aguado, César; Auguste, Jean-Louis; Jamier, Raphael; Roy, Philippe; López-Amo Sáinz, Manuel; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Institute for Advanced Materials and Mathematics - INAMAT2; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
In this paper, we experimentally compare several core structures of Microstructured Optical Fibers (MOFs) for low-finesse Fabry-Pérot (FP) sensors. These sensors are designed for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) measurements. We deposit Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) thin films by sputtering on the MOFs and different optical phase responses of the FP were measured for saturated atmospheres of ethanol. The sensitivity of the developed sensors is demonstrated to depend on the geometry and the dimensions of the MOF-cores. The sensors show recovery times under 100 s and the baselines are fully recovered after exposure to VOC.
Open Access
Sensitivity optimization of a microstructured optical fiber ammonia gas sensor by means of tuning the thickness of a metal oxide nano-coating
(IEEE, 2019) López Torres, Diego; López Aldaba, Aitor; Elosúa Aguado, César; Auguste, Jean-Louis; Jamier, Raphael; Roy, Philippe; López-Amo Sáinz, Manuel; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
In this paper, the influence of the thickness of metallic-oxide coatings, ITO, and SnO2 on the sensitivity of a microstructured optical fiber Fabry–Pérot (FP) has been studied with the aim of developing ammonia gas fiber optic sensors. Also, the distribution of the optical power that can be coupled to the metallic-oxide sensing films is investigated in order to understand how the sensor’s sensitivity can be improved; the thickness of the coatings plays a relevant role on the sensitivity and response time. Films with thicknesses between 200 and 850 nm were experimentally examined resulting in an optimal thickness of 625 nm for a SnO2 film. The behavior of the sensors toward different concentrations of ammonia gas from 10 to 130 ppm was analyzed by measuring the phase shifts of the reflected signal using the fast Fourier transform of its optical spectrum. The registered response/recovery times of this sensor are below 90 s.
Open Access
Comparison between capacitive and microstructured optical fiber soil moisture sensors
(MDPI, 2018) López Aldaba, Aitor; López Torres, Diego; Campo-Bescós, Miguel; López Rodríguez, José Javier; Yerro Lizarazu, David; Elosúa Aguado, César; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; Auguste, Jean-Louis; Jamier, Raphael; Roy, Philippe; López-Amo Sáinz, Manuel; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Landa Ingeniaritza eta Proiektuak; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Institute on Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain - ISFOOD; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Proyectos e Ingeniería Rural
Soil moisture content has always been an important parameter to control because it is a deterministic factor for site-specific irrigation, seeding, transplanting, and compaction detection. In this work, a discrete sensor that is based on a SnO2–FP (Fabry-Pérot) cavity is presented and characterized in real soil conditions. As far as authors know, it is the first time that a microstructured optical fiber is used for real soil moisture measurements. Its performance is compared with a commercial capacitive soil moisture sensor in two different soil scenarios for two weeks. The optical sensor shows a great agreement with capacitive sensor’s response and gravimetric measurements, as well as a fast and reversible response; moreover, the interrogation technique allows for several sensors to be potentially multiplexed, which offers the possibility of local measurements instead of volumetric: it constitutes a great tool for real soil moisture monitoring.
Open Access
Relative humidity multi-point optical sensors system based on Fast Fourier multiplexing technique
(SPIE, 2017) López Aldaba, Aitor; López Torres, Diego; Elosúa Aguado, César; Auguste, Jean-Louis; Jamier, Raphael; Roy, Philippe; Arregui San Martín, Francisco Javier; López-Amo Sáinz, Manuel; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica
In this paper, a new multipoint optical fiber system for relative humidity measurements based on Sn02-FP (Fabry-Pérot) sensing heads and an optical interrogator as single active device is presented and characterized. The interrogation of the sensing heads is carried out by monitoring the Fast Fourier Transform phase variations of the FP (Fabry-Pérot) interference frequencies. This method allows to multiplex several sensors with different wavelength spacing interference pattern. The sensors operate within a wide humidity range (20%-90% relative humidity) with low crosstalk between them. Five sensing heads have been measured using two different channels of the optical interrogator. The availability of four channels in the interrogator allows to multiplex a higher number of sensors, reducing proportionally the cost of each sensing point.