Portable Multihole Plastic Optical Fiber Sensor for Liquid-Level and Refractive Index Monitoring

In this article, we report a low-cost method to fabricate plastic optical fiber (POF) liquid-level and refractive index (RI) sensors integrated with smartphones by molds and drilling microholes in side-growing POFs (SGPOFs) with high-temperature metal wire. These sensors can be used for real-time liquid-level and RI monitoring, especially under situations requiring portability and illumination. When the liquid level changes, the change of the RI around the microholes leads to a change in the light intensity transmitted in the fiber, enabling us to measure the liquid level and RI. Utilizing one sensorwith six holes (0.45mmradius and 15mm spacing) in 2.0-mm SGPOF, the results of level and RI measuring are in good agreement with the theory. The liquid-level measurement of the sensor is carried out for water with an RI of 1.333, the level sensitivity is 0.29%/cm +/- 0.02%/cm. In the RI measurement, the RI sensitivity of the sensor is -22.8%/RIU +/- 0.6%/RIU in the measurement range from 1.333 to 1.475.