Optical fiber vacuum sensor based on modal interferometer and PDMS coating

This work studies the behavior of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a transducer for optical vacuum pressure measurements. The optical structure chosen for this device is a modal interferometer achieved by splicing a coreless multimode optical fiber between two single mode fibers. Then, an etching process is applied to the obtained device, in order to decrease the diameter of the fiber and increase the sensitivity. Finally, the fiber is coated by dip-coating with a layer of PDMS, which changes its volume with pressure changes. The device has been studied in the 1x10(-3) mbar to 10 mbar range with a wavelength shift of 4 nm. A maximum sensitivity of 35 nm/mbar was obtained. The simple fabrication process, which can be applied to more sensitive structures, suggest that PDMS can be a good choice for the development of optical fiber vacuum sensors.