Waveguides based on oxide glasses of heavy atoms for optical sensing of gases in the UV-Vis range

Abstract

The project focuses on the development of optical fibers with a large transmission window for application in remote sensing of toxic, explosives and greenhouse gases. Heavy atoms oxide glasses will be explored as matrices for the manufacture of optical fibers. The work will explore the detection and quantification of gases through their interaction with the evanescent field of optical fibers manufactured from glasses with pronounced optical properties, such as transmission from UV to medium infrared, low characteristic temperatures, high refractive indices, and rare earth ions solubility. The glassy matrices will initially be characterized by different techniques such as XRD, DSC, FT-IR, UV-Visible, Raman, solid state NMR and measurements of linear and non-linear refractive index in order to determine the thermal and optical properties of the glasses. The fabrication of the fibers will be made from preforms of the glass previously characterized and taken to a fiber pulling tower, producing fibers of the core-shell type with a typical diameter of about 125 ¼m. The fibers will then be modified and functionalized with luminescent MOFs in their sensing region to be able to perform the optical detection of different gases, which will initially take place in the laboratory so that after the optimization of the experimental conditions of production and analysis, such sensors can be applied to remote and selective gas analysis. In this context, the project contributes to a research front in photonic materials, through the development of optical fibers with good transmission in the visible and near and medium infrared regions for application in the remote sensing of gases that require constant monitoring, such as waste gases from industrial processes, toxic and explosive gases. (AU)