Optical fiber having a cladding layer doped with metal nano-particles, coreless optical fiber, and method for manufacturing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9523813-B2
Application number	US-201113979519-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2011
Priority date	Jan 14, 2011
Publication date	Dec 20, 2016
Grant date	Dec 20, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to an optical fiber for an SPR sensor, characterized in that the optical fiber is comprised of a core layer and a cladding layer surrounding the core layer, and the cladding layer is doped with metal nanoparticles.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An optical fiber for a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor, the optical fiber comprising:
a core layer;
a cladding layer enclosing the core layer,
wherein the cladding layer includes doped metal nano-particles,
at least some of the metal nano-particles are exposed on an outer surface of the cladding layer, and
the cladding layer comprises a metal film coating on a surface of the cladding layer, the metal film contacts a surface of the metal nano-particles exposed on the outer surface of the cladding layer, wherein the coated metal film is configured to be operated as the SPR sensor.

2. The optical fiber of claim 1 , further comprising:
a coating on the cladding layer, the coating comprises a polymer having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the cladding layer.

3. The optical fiber of claim 1 , wherein the metal includes at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold (Au), silver (Ag), or copper (Cu).

4. A method for manufacturing an optical fiber for a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor, the method comprising:
depositing a cladding layer, the cladding layer comprising SiCl 4 , POCl 3 , CF 4 and oxygen, in a quartz glass pipe and partially sintering the deposited cladding layer;
doping the partially sintered cladding layer with metal nano-particles;
drying and sintering the cladding layer doped with the metal nano-particles;
forming a core layer on the cladding layer in the quartz glass pipe to manufacture an optical fiber preform;
etching an outer portion of the cladding layer that is not doped with the metal nano-particles so that at least some of the metal nano-particles are exposed on an outer surface of the cladding layer;
coating a surface of the cladding layer with a metal film so that the metal film contacts a surface of the metal nano-particles exposed on the outer surface of the cladding layer, wherein the coated metal film is configured to be operated as the SPR sensor; and
drawing the manufactured optical fiber preform to obtain an optical fiber.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
coating the drawn optical fiber with a polymer having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the cladding layer.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the metal includes at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold (Au), silver (Ag), or copper (Cu).

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
coating a metal film on a surface of the cladding layer, wherein the coated metal film is configured to be operated as the SPR sensor.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein said forming comprises forming the core layer on the cladding layer in the quartz glass pipe by using an outside vapor deposition (VOD) method.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein said forming comprises forming the core layer on the cladding layer in the quartz glass pipe by using a vapor axial deposition (VAD) method.

10. A coreless optical fiber for a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor, the coreless optical fiber comprising:
a cladding layer, wherein the cladding layer includes doped metal nano-particles; wherein at least some of the metal nano-particles are exposed on an outer surface of the cladding layer, and
wherein the cladding layer comprises a metal film coating on a surface of the cladding layer, the metal film contacts a surface of the metal nano-particles exposed on the outer surface of the cladding layer, and the coated metal film is configured to be operated as the SPR sensor.

11. The coreless optical fiber claim 10 , further comprising:
a coating on the cladding layer, the coating comprises a polymer having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the cladding layer.

12. The coreless optical fiber of claim 10 , wherein the metal includes metal at least one selected from the group consisting of gold (Au), silver (Ag), or copper (Cu).

13. A method for manufacturing a coreless optical fiber for a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor, the method comprising:
depositing a cladding layer, the cladding layer comprising SiCl 4 , POCl 3 , CF 4 and oxygen, in a quartz glass pipe and partially sintering the deposited cladding layer;
doping the partially sintered cladding layer with metal nano-particles;
drying, sintering, and condensing the cladding layer doped with the metal nano-particles to manufacture an optical fiber preform;
etching an outer portion of the cladding layer that is not doped with the metal nano-particles so that at least some of the metal nano-particles are exposed on an outer surface of the cladding layer;
coating a surface of the cladding layer with a metal film so that the metal film contacts a surface of the metal nano-particles exposed on the outer surface of the cladding layer, wherein the coated metal film is configured to be operated as the SPR sensor; and
drawing the manufactured optical fiber preform to obtain an optical fiber.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
coating the drawn optical fiber with a polymer having a refractive index lower than a refractive index of the cladding layer.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the metal includes at least one metal selected from the group consisting of gold (Au), silver (Ag), or copper (Cu).

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
coating a metal film on a surface of the cladding layer, wherein the coated metal film is configured to be operated as the SPR sensor.

Assignees

• Han Won Taek
• Ju Seongmin
• Gwangju Inst Science & Tech

Inventors

• Han Won Taek
• Ju Seongmin

Classifications

• G01N21/554

  detecting the surface plasmon resonance of nanostructured metals, e.g. localised surface plasmon resonance · CPC title

• G02B6/1226

  involving surface plasmon interaction · CPC title

• G02B6/0229 Primary

  characterised by nanostructures, i.e. structures of size less than 100 nm, e.g. quantum dots · CPC title

• B82Y20/00

  Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals · CPC title

• G01D5/3538

  using a particular type of fiber, e.g. fibre with several cores, PANDA fiber, fiber with an elliptic core or the like · CPC title