Search Results (211)

In recent years, the use of new and unique building materials to achieve green building goals has attracted a lot of attention. Optical fiber light-transmitting concrete (LTC) makes it possible for light to pass through concrete. Its ornamental value and excellent light transmission have received much attention from scholars. However, the application of optical fiber LTC in the construction industry has not yet been promoted due to the tedious preparation process and insufficient research on its mechanical properties and durability. This paper reviews the research results of optical fiber LTC in terms of product preparation, light transmission, mechanical properties, durability, and microstructures. The light transmission of optical fiber LTCs is positively correlated with fiber content and negatively correlated with fiber diameter and fiber spacing. However, how the combination of these factors affects LTC transmittance remains to be investigated. In addition to fiber parameters, cement matrix properties and other environmental factors (light intensity, incidence angle, and aging) should also be considered to explore the suitability of LTC. The fiber–matrix interface bond strength needs further investigation and efforts should be made to improve it. This paper also summarizes the future challenges and research directions of optical fiber LTC, which is expected to provide guidance for the application of optical fiber LTC. It is anticipated that fiber-optic LTC will be promoted as a new building material. Full article

This paper presents the results of a detailed theoretical study of the bending properties of all-glass leakage channel microstructured optical fibers (LC MOFs) with a polymer coating over a bending radius range from 4.8 cm to 10 cm. The dependencies of the effective refractive indices of the LC MOF modes on the bending radius have a number of crossings and anticrossings for different mode pairs. A detailed analysis showed that eight modes for each polarization have to be considered to correctly calculate the bending losses. These modes can be classified into relatively strong modes (three for each polarization) and relatively weak modes. The three strong modes have the most direct effect on the loss calculation. However, the relatively weaker modes also play a role through their coupling with the stronger modes, resulting in the appearance of local loss maxima in the loss dependencies for the strong modes. At a bending radius of 10 cm, the final leakage loss of the LC MOFs with a polymer coating is approximately four times lower than that of the LC MOFs without a coating. The significant reduction in losses paves the way for further optimization of the LC MOF geometric structure, leading to a reduction in the allowable bending radius. Full article

We present a high-sensitivity fiber optic soil moisture sensor based on side-polished multimode fibers and lossy mode resonance (LMR). The multimode fibers (MMFs), after side-polishing to form a D-shaped structure, are coated with a single-layer SnO₂ thin film by electron beam evaporation with ion-assisted deposition technology. The LMR effect can be obtained when the refractive index of the thin film is positive and greater than its extinction coefficient and the real part of the external medium permittivity. The D-shaped fiber optic soil moisture sensor was placed in soil, allowing moisture to penetrate into the thin film microstructure, and it observed the resonance wavelength shift in LMR spectra to measure the relative humidity change in soil. Meanwhile, an Arduino electronic soil moisture sensing module was used as the experimental control group, with soil relative humidity ranging from 10%RH to 90%RH. We found that the D-shaped fiber with a residual thickness of 93 μm and SnO₂ thin film thickness of 450 nm had a maximum sensitivity of 2.29 nm/%RH, with relative humidity varying from 10%RH to 90%RH. The D-shaped fiber also demonstrates a fast response time and good reproducibility. Full article

This paper presents the results of a detailed theoretical study of the bending properties of original all-glass leakage channel microstructured optical fibers (LC MOFs) over a bending radius range from 3 cm to 11 cm. These LC MOFs contain two layers of fluorine-doped silica glass elements with reduced refractive index, different diameters, and different distances between them. We determined the spatial distributions of the electric field components of different modes in addition to the usual parameters such as effective refractive indices, bending losses, and spatial intensity distributions. A detailed analysis showed that three modes for each polarization have to be considered to correctly calculate the bending losses. Two pairs of these three modes couple in two distinct bending radius ranges, specifically near 3.68 cm and near 5.95 cm, and the mode coupling in these pairs is resonant. The resulting bending losses of the LC MOF for two polarizations are very close to each other and have two maxima at bending radii of 3.68 cm and 5.95 cm. However, the nature of these maxima is not resonant; they are caused by the combined influence of all three modes, each of which has specific dependencies of losses and other parameters on the bending radius that exhibit quasi-resonant behavior near the corresponding bending radii. Full article

The cold-rolled non-oriented silicon steel sheets with a Si content of 2.4 wt.%, produced by continuous and reversible cold rolling, were used as the experimental material. The effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure, texture, and magnetic properties were studied by optical microscopy, an X-ray diffractometer, and a magnetic property measuring instrument. The experimental results showed that the dominant texture components at the surface of both sheets were almost the same, i.e., α and γ fibers. After annealing at 920 °C for 30 s, a complete recrystallization occurred in both sheets. When annealing below 1070 °C, the average grain sizes of continuous cold-rolled sheets were slightly higher than those of reversible cold-rolled ones. Additionally, for all specimens, the recrystallization texture components were γ fiber, as well as weak α fiber, λ fiber, and Goss texture. Additionally, the difference was the texture intensity. The iron losses of the finished products of continuous cold rolling were lower than those of the finished products of reversible cold rolling with the increase in annealing temperature, and the magnetic induction was higher than that of the finished products of reversible cold rolling. Full article

The topography measurement accuracy of coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) suffers from the local characteristic of micro-structured surfaces, such as local surface slopes. A cylindrical reference artefact made of single-mode fiber with high roundness and low roughness has been proposed in this manuscript to traceably investigate the surface tilting induced measurement deviations using coherence scanning interferometry with high NA objectives. A feed-forward neural network (FF-NN) is designed and trained to model and thereafter compensate the systematic measurement deviations due to local surface tilting. Experimental results have verified that the FF-NN approach can well enhance the accuracy of the CSI for radius measurement of cylindrical samples up to 0.3%. Further development of the FF-NN for modelling of the measurement errors in CSI due to the optical properties of surfaces including areal roughness is outlined. Full article

A vector curvature and temperature sensor based on an in-fiber hybrid microstructure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed scheme enables the dimensions of the Fabry–Perot and Mach–Zehnder hybrid interferometer to be adjusted for the formation of the Vernier effect by simply changing the length of a single optical fiber. The sensor is fabricated using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG), multimode fiber (MMF), and a single-hole dual-core fiber (SHDCF). The sensor exhibits different curvature sensitivities in four vertical directions, enabling two-dimensional curvature sensing. The temperature and curvature sensitivities of the sensor were enhanced to 100 pm/°C and −25.55 nm/m⁻¹, respectively, and the temperature crosstalk was minimal at −3.9 × 10⁻³ m⁻¹/°C. This hybrid microstructure sensor technology can be applied to high-sensitivity two-dimensional vector curvature and temperature detection for structural health monitoring of buildings, bridge engineering, and other related fields. Full article

To facilitate the sensor fabrication and sensing operation in microstructured optical fiber-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors for high refractive index (RI) detection, we propose a special hollow fiber-based SPR sensor that comprises an opening on its body side and a thin gold layer coated on its outer surface. The analyte is able to flow into the hollow core through the side-opening to form new fiber core, with the Gaussian-like mode propagating in it. We investigate the sensing performance of the proposed sensor in a higher RI range of 1.48 to 1.54 at two feasible schemes: one is to only fill the fiber core with analyte (Scheme A), and the other is to directly immerse the sensor in the analyte (Scheme B). The results demonstrate that our sensor exhibits higher wavelength sensitivity at Scheme A with a maximum wavelength sensitivity of 12,320 nm/RIU, while a greater amplitude sensitivity was found at Scheme B with a maximum amplitude sensitivity of 1146 RIU⁻¹. Our proposed sensor features the advantages of simple fabrication, flexible operation, easy analyte filling and replacing, enhanced real-time detection capabilities, high RI detection, and very high wavelength sensitivity and amplitude sensitivity, which makes it more competitive in SPR sensing applications. Full article

Tissue imaging is crucial in oral cancer diagnostics. Imaging techniques such as X-ray imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and computed tomography (CT) enable the visualization and analysis of tissues, aiding in the detection and diagnosis of cancers. A significant amount of research has been conducted on designing OCT probes for tissue imaging, but most probes are either heavy, bulky and require external mounting or are lightweight but straight. This study addresses these challenges, resulting in a curved lightweight, low-voltage and compact handheld imaging probe for oral soft tissue examination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first curved handheld OCT probe with its shape optimized for oral applications. This probe features highly compact all-fiber optics with a diameter of 125 μm and utilizes innovative central deflection magnetic actuation for controlled beam scanning. To ensure vertical stability while scanning oral soft tissues, the fiber was secured through multiple narrow slits at the probe’s distal end. This apparatus was encased in a 3D-printed angular cylinder tube (15 mm outer diameter, 12 mm inner diameter and 160 mm in length, weighing < 20 g). An angle of 115° makes the probe easy to hold and suitable for scanning in space-limited locations. To validate the feasibility of this probe, we conducted assessments on a multi-layered imaging phantom and human tissues, visualizing microstructural features with high contrast. Full article

Commercial oxygen-free copper sheets were cold-rolled with reduction rates ranging from 20% to 87% and annealed at 400, 500 and 600 °C. The microstructure and texture evolution during the cold-rolling and annealing processes were studied using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The results show that the deformation textures of {123}<634> (S), {112}<111> (Copper) and {110}<112> (Brass) were continuously enhanced with the increase in cold-rolling reduction. The orientations along the α-oriented fiber converged towards Brass, and the orientation density of β fiber obviously increased when the rolling reduction exceeded 60%. The recrystallization texture was significantly affected by the cold-rolling reduction. After 60% cold-rolling reduction, Copper and S texture components gradually decreased, and the {011}<511> recrystallization texture component formed with the increase in annealing temperature. After 87% cold-rolling reduction, a strong Cube texture formed, and other textures were inhibited with the increase in annealing temperature. The strong Brass and S deformation texture was conducive to the formation of a strong Cube annealing texture. The density of the annealing twin boundary decreased with the increase in annealing temperature, and more annealing twin boundaries formed in the oxygen-free copper sheets with the increase in cold-rolling reduction. Full article

The effective control of any technological process is essential in ensuring high-quality finished products. This is particularly true in manufacturing knowledge-intensive and high-tech products, including microstructured photonic crystal fibers (PCF). This paper addresses the issues of stabilizing the optimal control of the silica capillary drawing process. The silica capillaries are the main components of PCF. A modified mathematical model proposed by the authors is used as the basic model of capillary drawing. The uniqueness of this model is that it takes into account the main forces acting during drawing (gravity, inertia, viscosity, surface tension, pressure inside the drawn capillary), as well as all types of heat transfer (heat conduction, convection, radiation). In the first stage, the system of partial differential equations describing heat and mass transfer was linearized. Then, the problem of the optimal control of the drawing process was formulated, and optimization systems for the isothermal and non-isothermal cases were obtained. In the isothermal case, optimal adjustments of the drawing speed were obtained for different objective functionals. Thus, the proposed approach allows for the constant monitoring and adjustment of the observed state parameters (for example, the outer radius of the capillary). This is possible due to the optimal control of the drawing speed to obtain high-quality preforms. The ability to control and promptly eliminate geometric defects in the capillary was confirmed by the analysis of the numerical calculations, according to which even 15% deviations in the outer radius of the capillary during the drawing process can be reduced to 4–5% by controlling only the capillary drawing speed. Full article

A polarized light microscope (PLM) was utilized to examine the optical textures of mesophase pitch (MP) and MP-derived fibers, which aimed to reveal the arrangement and orientation characteristics of pitch molecules and to clarify the evolution and transformation mechanism of carbonaceous microcrystalline from pitch fibers to graphitized fibers. The results found that there were distinct optical textures in MP, where one side exhibited a transition from a flattening plane to a mountain-like undulating plane. This transition corresponded to the arrangement of pitch molecules, resembling stacked lamellar structures reminiscent of curved paper. Meanwhile, the optical textures of fibers revealed that the blue substance was wrapped around the red grain-like domains in the longitudinal section and confirmed that the red part belonged to the pyridine insoluble fraction of MP and the blue part belonged to its pyridine-soluble fraction. After graphitization, the red part was transformed into graphite sheets and the blue part was transformed into an amorphous carbon layer which was wrapped around the graphite sheets, forming a carbonaceous microcrystalline package-like bag. Therefore, this study provided a comprehensive interpretation of the structural evolution mechanism of MP and MP-derived fibers based on their macro-optical textures and micro-nanostructures. Full article

This study presents a novel approach in enhancing the flexural strength of sisal fiber cement composites by employing a dual coating technique with natural rubber latex and expanded perlite to the sisal fibers. The effects of different fiber content (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, and 1.5 wt%) and fiber length (1, 2, and 3 cm) on the physical and mechanical properties of sisal fiber cement were also studied. The physical properties, including bulk density and water absorption, were evaluated via the Archimedes method. Flexural strength was measured using the 3-point bending method, and microstructure was observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an optical microscope (OM). As the fiber content and length increase, the bulk density of the sisal fiber cement decreases. However, composites utilizing coated fibers consistently exhibit a higher bulk density than those utilizing uncoated fibers, attributed to enhanced adhesion and reduced porosity. The water absorption of sisal fiber cement increases with fiber content, but it is mitigated by the natural rubber latex coating, which prevents fiber–water absorption, and by expanded perlite, which reduces voids in the matrix. Composites containing coated fibers consistently exhibit superior flexural strength compared to those with uncoated fibers. The highest flexural strength values of 5.58 MPa were observed in composites utilizing 3 cm of coated fiber with 0.25 wt% fiber content. Microstructure analysis reveals a well-bonded interface in coated fibers, emphasizing the positive impact of coating on mechanical performance. The incorporation of coated sisal fibers effectively improves adhesion, water resistance, and flexural strength, offering sustainable and durable construction materials. The achieved results can serve as the guidelines for the development of a high-performance bio-based construction materials with improved durability and reduced environmental impact. Full article

Batteries play a crucial role as energy storage devices across various industries. However, achieving high performance often comes at the cost of safety. Continuous monitoring is essential to ensure the safety and reliability of batteries. This paper investigates the advancements in battery monitoring technology, focusing on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). By examining the factors contributing to battery degradation and the principles of FBGs, this study discusses key aspects of FBG sensing, including mounting locations, monitoring targets, and their correlation with optical signals. While current FBG battery sensing can achieve high measurement accuracies for temperature (0.1 °C), strain (0.1 $\mathsf{\mu }\mathsf{\epsilon }$), pressure (0.14 bar), and refractive index (6 × 10⁻⁵ RIU), with corresponding sensitivities of 40 pm/°C, 2.2 pm/$\mathsf{\mu }\mathsf{\epsilon }$, −0.3 pm/bar, and −18 nm/RIU, respectively, accurately assessing battery health in real time remains a challenge. Traditional methods struggle to provide real-time and precise evaluations by analyzing the microstructure of battery materials or physical phenomena during chemical reactions. Therefore, by summarizing the current state of FBG battery sensing research, it is evident that monitoring battery material properties (e.g., refractive index and gas properties) through FBGs offers a promising solution for real-time and accurate battery health assessment. This paper also delves into the obstacles of battery monitoring, such as standardizing the FBG encapsulation process, decoupling multiple parameters, and controlling costs. Ultimately, the paper highlights the potential of FBG monitoring technology in driving advancements in battery development. Full article

With the development of laser technology, microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) have become an important part of ultrafast optics, providing excellent platforms for ultrafast laser pulse generation, amplification, and compression, promoting the development of fiber laser systems to generate high power, high pulse energy, and few-cycle duration pulses. MOFs extend the ultrafast laser spectrum to the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and even extreme ultraviolet (EUV) regions based on dispersive wave emission and high harmonic generation, as well as to the mid-infrared region based on soliton self-frequency shift (SSFS), contributing compact and low-cost light sources for precision microscopy and spectroscopy. In this paper, first several common types of MOFs are introduced, then the various applications of MOFs in ultrafast optics are discussed, mainly focusing on the aspects of ultrafast laser pulse scaling in pulse energy and spectral bandwidth, and finally the possible prospects of MOFs are given. Full article