Tapered optical fiber sensing attenuated total reflectance

Claim 2

An elongated radiation transmissions fiber for spectroscopic monitoring comprising a transmission portion, a transition portion of tapered configuration and a sensor portion, said transmission, transition, and sensor portions having a continuous core portion and continuous cladding over said core portion throughout said transmission, transition, and sensor portions, and said cladding in said transmission portion being of greater thickness than said cladding in said sensor portion and the thickness of said cladding in said transition portion changing gradually between the thickness of cladding in said transmission portion and the thickness of cladding in said sensor portions.

Claim 3

The fiber of claim 1 wherein fiber has a length of at least about one meter and said sensor portion has a length that is less than about five percent of the overall length of said fiber.

Claim 4

The fiber of claim 1 wherein said cladding in said sensor portion has a thickness of less than about one wavelength at the radiation wavelength region employed for analysis purposes.

Claim 5

The fiber of claim 1 wherein said cladding in said transmission portion has a thickness sufficient to contain the evanescent field at the wavelengths of analytical interest.

Claim 6

The fiber of claim 1 wherein the thickness of said cladding in said transmission portion is at least twice the thickness of said cladding in said sensor portion.

Claim 7

The fiber of claim 1 wherein said core is selected from the group comprising chalcogenide glass such as arsenic sulfide, arsenic germanium selenide, or germanium selenium tellurium, heavy metal fluoride glass, oxide glass such as silica glass, and polycrystalline or single crystal materials such as thallium, bromohalide, cesium halide or silver halide.

Claim 8

The fiber of claim 1 wherein said sensor core has a diameter in the range of fifteen to one thousand micrometers and a refractive index greater than 1.5.

Claim 9

The fiber of claim 1 wherein said transmission portion has a chalcogenide glass core of about three hundred micrometers diameter and a cladding layer of chalcogenide glass of about twenty micrometers thickness; said sensor region has a diameter of about ninety micrometers and a cladding glass thickness of bout six micrometers; the sensor region has a length of about eight, millimeters; and each said tapered transition region has a length each of about four millimeters.

Claim 10

The fiber of claim 1 wherein there are a plurality of said sensor portions in series along the length of said fiber, said sensor portions being spaced apart by a series of spaced transmission portions.

Claim 11

The fiber of claim 9 wherein said cladding in said transmission portions has a thickness sufficient to contain the evanescent field at the wavelengths of analytical interest, and said cladding in said sensor portions is sufficiently thin to permit the evanescent field to penetrate outside the fiber into the analyte in which the fiber is disposed at the wavelengths of analytical interest.

Claim 12

The fiber of claim 1 and further including reflector structure at the end of said sensor portion remote from said transmission portion.

Claim 13

The fiber of claim 1 wherein said sensor portion of said core is of smaller diameter than said transmission portion.

Claim 14

The fiber of claim 1 wherein said core and cladding have glass transition temperatures within about 100° C. of each other and thermal expansion coefficients within about 1×10 -6 /° C. of each other.

Claim 15

The fiber of claim 13 wherein said cladding in said sensor portion has a thickness of less than about one wavelength at the radiation wavelength region employed for analysis purposes, and the thickness of said cladding in said transmission portion is at least twice the thickness of said cladding in said sensor portion.

Claim 16

The fiber of claim 4 wherein said sensor core has a diameter in the range of fifteen to one thousand micrometers and a refractive index greater than 1.5.

Claim 17

The fiber of claim 15 wherein said sensor portion of said core is of smaller diameter than said transmission portion.

Claim 18

The fiber of claim 16 wherein said cladding in said sensor portion has a thickness in the range of 0.2-one wavelength at the radiation wavelength region employed for analysis purposes.

Claim 19

A spectroscopy system comprising a source of radiation for generating a beam of radiation, spectrum analyzing apparatus, an elongated radiation transmission fiber for disposition in a material of interest comprising a transmission portion, a transition portion of tapered configuration and a sensor portion, said transmission, transition, and sensor portions having a continuous core portion and continuous cladding over said core portion throughout said transmission, transition, and sensor portions, said cladding in said transmission portion being of greater thickness than said cladding in said sensor portion and the thickness of said cladding in said transition portion changing gradually between the thickness of cladding in said transmission portion and the thickness of cladding in said sensor portion, and coupling structure for coupling said transmission fiber to said source to transmit a beam of infrared radiation through said fiber to said sensor portion and for coupling said fiber to said analyzing apparatus for analyzing the absorption medium in which said sensor portion is disposed.

Claim 20

A spectroscopy system comprising a source of radiation for generating a beam of radiation, spectrum analyzing apparatus, an elongated radiation transmission fiber for disposition in a material of interest comprising a transmission portion, a transition portion of tapered configuration and a sensor portion, said transmission, transition, and sensor portions having a continuous core portion and continuous cladding over said core portion throughout said transmission, transition, and sensor portions, said cladding in said transmission portion being of greater thickness than said cladding in said sensor portion and the thickness of said cladding in said transition portion changing gradually between the thickness of cladding in said transmission portion and the thickness of cladding in said sensor portion, and coupling structure for coupling said transmission fiber to said source to transmit a beam of infrared radiation through said fiber to said sensor portion and for coupling said fiber to said analyzing apparatus for analyzing the absorption medium in which said sensor portion is disposed.

Claim 21

The system of claim 18 wherein said source is of the Michelson interferometer type and generates a beam of infrared radiation.

Claim 22

The system of claim 18 wherein said analyzing apparatus is of the Fourier transform type.

Claim 23

The system of claim 18 wherein said sensor portion is at one end of said fiber, and said source and said analyzer are connected to the same end of said fiber.

Claim 24

The system of claim 18 wherein said fiber includes a plurality of said sensor portions in series along the length of said fiber.

Claim 25

The system of claim 18 wherein said sensor portion of said core is of smaller diameter than said transmission portion.

Claim 26

The system of claim 23 wherein said cladding in said sensor portion has a thickness in the range of 0.2 -one wavelength at the radiation wavelength region employed for analysis purposes.

Claim 27

The system of claim 18 wherein said cladding in said sensor portion has a thickness of less than about one wavelength at the radiation wavelength region employed for analysis purposes, and the thickness of said cladding in said transmission portion is at least twice the thickness of said cladding in said sensor portion.

Claim 28

The system of claim 25 wherein said core and cladding have glass transition temperatures within about 100° C. of each other and thermal expansion coefficients within about 1×10 -6 /° C. of each other.

Claim 29

The system of claim 26 wherein said sensor core has a diameter in the range of fifteen to one thousand micrometers and a refractive index greater than 1.5.

Claim 30

The system of claim 27 wherein said core of said fiber is selected from the group comprising chalcogenide glass, heavy metal fluoride glass, oxide glass and polycrystalline or single crystal materials such as thallium, bromohalides, cesium halides and silver halides.