Hazardous material sensing such as chemical agents, has become an important issue due to terrorist threats. In this work we examine the possibility of using a hollow waveguide as a sensor for chemical material sensing using only one wavelength. We propose to coat the waveguide with a dielectric layer that is sensitive to a certain chemical agent. Once such an agent interacts with the dielectric layer, it changes the index of refraction of the layer and therefore the waveguides transmission at the chosen wavelength. Using our ray model we have conducted a theoretical investigation of the suggested sensor and applied it to three chemical agents; Tabun, Ammonia and Hydrogen Cyanide.

Date Published: 13 February 2008
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 6852, Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics and Treatment Applications VIII, 68520B (13 February 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.791196

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6852:
Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics and Treatment Applications VIII
Israel Gannot, Editor(s)