OPTOELECTRONICS
BY
light radiation has to be based on subatomic transitions. When electrons in the lower
levels are excited by some means to higher level, they emit radiation when they fall back
to the lower levels after some time. The energy of the emitted radiation will be equal to
the temperatures reach about 2500k bodies become red hot. Red is the lowest
frequency/energy in the visible spectrum. Then as the temperatures raise and the energy
supplied increases other frequencies also add up till finally the body becomes white hot.
The spectral radiant existence of a body is given by Plank's law. In incandescent lamps
the heating is done by passing electric current through a filament in a sealed enclosure.
However thermal light sources are bulky, fragile and are not energy efficient. They also
have a short service life and have poor stability. All these reasons make heat radiators
technology? The source must be small, rugged and energy efficient. It must have
sufficiently high radiance over a narrow, well defined band of wavelengths. The out put
should be capable of being easily modulated. The source must be cost efficient, reliable
and have long life. The output power most be stable. In addition, if we are using fibre
technology, the source must emit light in an angular cone, which matches the acceptance
cone of the fibre as far as possible. Thus for Optoelectronic applications, we have to look
for phenomena other than thermal radiation for generation of light. The energy transfer
to the electrons must be in some other manner. The process by which a fraction of the
energy absorbed by a substance is remitted in the form of visible or near visible light
know.
There are two aspects of this luminescence, depending on the time lag between
excitation and emission. If the time lag is negligible and emission happens more or less
along with excitation, the phenomenon is called fluorescence. If the emission starts after
available in the form of luminescence centres. These are donor or acceptor atoms which
get ionised or vacant sites in crystal lattices. When sufficient energy is available, it can
dislodge electrons from luminescent centres or release ions from the crystal lattice of the
host material. Thus the semiconductor will have additional charge carriers in the form of
electrons and positive ions. When these carriers encounter vacant lattice sites or the
points of crystal defects they recombine and release the energy in the form of light in
which case we call them radiative recombination's. These lattice sites or defect sites are
Any luminescent phenomena therefore has two stages. The first one involves the
creation of charge carriers. The second stage involves the recombination of these charge
Before discussing the details of the transitions, which occur in the semiconductor,
the metals and higher than that of the insulators. The forbidden gap is narrow. The
material has a negative temperature coefficient of resistance. This means that the
electrical conductivity increases with temperature. This is because the forbidden gap
being narrow, the energy from heating is sufficient for electrons in the valence band to be
Ev represents the highest energy level in the valence band, which is normally completely
filled. Ec represents the lowest energy level in the conduction band. This band is usually
empty at low temperatures. The energy difference Ec -Ev is known as the forbidden gap.
The conduction band extends from Ec upto a level Eo known as the vacuum level. This
represents the energy of an electron at rest, outside the semiconductor. The energy
levels, EF represents the Fermi energy level. This is the highest filled energy levet. At O
K all the levels below the Fermi level are filled and all the levels about it are empty.
However at higher temperatures, it may so happen that some of the electrons below EF
acquire energy and are excited to higher levels. Consequently some of the levels above E
may be occupied and some of those below it may be vacant. In terms of the electron
population statistics, the probability of the Fermi level being occupied is exactly one half.
An electron energy level at EF, should one exist, would have a 50% probability of being
occupied. This probability is obtained from the Fermi Dirac distribution functions.
F (δ ) = ---------------------
The difference in energy between the vacuum level and the Fermi level, Eo -E F
The energy diagram in the figure refers to the condition at low temperatures,
number of the electrons in the valence band, acquire enough energy and go into the
conduction band. This results in the creation of vacancies or holes in the valence band.
The concentration of electrons, n in the conduction band is the same as the concentration
of holes, P in the valence band. This is known as the intrinsic carrier concentration. Its
where K is a constant of the material, k is the Boltzman constant and Eg is the energy
gap. The electrical conductivity is dependent of the carrier concentration. When Eg/kT is
more than 100, the material may be considered as an insulator. When Eg/kt is less than
The most commonly known 'semi conductor elements are germanium and silicon.
These belong to group IV of the periodic table. The energy gap of germanium is 0.7ev
and that of silicon is 1.1 ev. The crystal structure of these elements is tetrahedral and the
requirement of four electrons in the outermost orbit can also be satisfied by compounds
of elements from group III & V. These are known as III - V semiconductors. Thus we
cadmium sulfide are also widely known semi conductors. Using these compounds as
semi conductors gives us a greater range of energy structures. It also provides a wide
range of lattice constants, intrinsic carrier concentration, carrier mobilities and other
called 'designer' semiconductors. All the III-V compounds referred to above are binary
compounds. The elements from the groups III and V of the periodic table have a special
property that they are completely miscible with each other. Thus, a part of the arsenic in
Ga As can be replaced by phosphorus and we get the ternary compound GaASP. Again, a
we get the quaternary compound InGaASP. Thus we can get any combination of group
III elements and any other combination of group V elements each in any proportion we
like to get the characteristics that are required for a particular design. The proportions of
each material are designated conventionally by x and 1- x for group three elements and y
and 1 - y for group five elements. Again, x and y are used for the lower atomic weight
As, (In1-x Gax) (As1-y Py) and go on. The advantage of the total miscibility of the
conductivity is a direct function of the temperature. Thus any component made using an
if this temperature dependence can be decreased as far as possible. This requires that the
population of electrons in the conduction band must be for some reason other than raise
in temperature. This brings us to the impurity or extrinsic semi conductors. The intrinsic
addition of holes or electrons, the carrier concentration n and p are no longer equal. For
normal levels of doping, the product of the carrier concentrations remains independent of
np = n ı ² = K² exp ( - Eg/kT)
Here the impurity concentration, rather than the temperature, is the main
parameter, which determines the total number of free charge carriers. Hence the
Group IV semi conductors can be made n type by doping with group V elements.
They can be made p type by doping with group III elements. The III-V compound can be
made n - type by doping with group VI elements and p - type by doping with group II
they contain four electrons in their outer most orbit. That is one less than the group V
elements and one more than group III elements. Thus, if Si, Ge or Sn atoms are used to
semiconductor. Similarly, if these group IV elements are made to substitute group III
sites the semiconductor becomes a n - type semiconductor. Thus the same material,
depending on which sites it is made to settle on, can be either a donor or an acceptor.
They are known as amphoteric dopants. These occupy the sites of atoms which is the
nearest in size to the impurity atom, because that requires the least energy. The case of Si
in Ga As in special since it can occupy either site depending upon the conditions of
The n type impurities result in localised energy levels being formed just below the
conduction band. These levels are occupied by the donor atoms, which are ionised,
giving up their electrons to the conduction band. Because of these additional levels, the
Fermilevel in an n type material is nearer the conduction band.
In the case of a p type semiconductor, acceptor levels are formed just above Ev.
These levels are normally occupied by the electrons excited out of the valence band. Due
p-n Junction:
If a one part of a bulk semiconductor is doped with n type impurity and the other
part with p type impurity with a practically abrupt junction between them, we call it a p-n
junction. This is the most basic and most important of all semiconductors components.
When there are no applied voltages or thermal gradients, the Fermi level is
uniform throughout the material. In the n type material, the conduction band starts from
close to the Fermilevel and in the p type material it is further off. So, as the energy band
diagram of the p-n junction shows, the energy levels Ec and Ec are at different levels in
the two halves. The same is the case with the levels Eo1, and Eo2, and Ev1 and Ev2.
The difference in energies between Ec2, & Ec1, and the consequent difference in the free
electron distribution results in a potential difference Va being set up across the junction.
In the n type materials, the population of the electrons is more. They are the majority
carriers. Their population is less in the p type region. So their tendency is to diffuse
towards the lowly populated region. However the electric field due to Vd causes a
tendency in them to drift exactly in the opposite direction. These two are exactly
balanced and the majority population is maintained. The same thing happens to the holes
also. The transition region contains a negligible number of carriers and is known as the
depletion layer. The equilibrium concentrations of the majority and minority carriers on
n Pn = n p = n²
Where n & np are the concentration of electrons in the n and p regions and p and p are
Now if a voltage is applied across the junction, depending upon the polarity, it
has the effect of either lowering or raising the potential barrier. If the p type region is
made more positive, then the potential barrier is lowered. This leads to some of the
majority carriers diffusing out of their regions. These means that the minority
concentration increases on either side. This increase is by a factor exp ( ev/k T ) where v
is the applied voltage. The point of interest as far as semiconductor light sources are
concerned is this. These excess carriers injected into the region where they are minorities
move away from the depletion region by diffusion. Some of these excess carriers,
recombine with the majority carriers in that region and it is precisely this recombination
be classified as follows.
The first and the most simple one, shown in fig a is where an electron in the
conduction band recombined with a hole, giving up its energy and coming down to the
valence band. This is known as the direct band to band transition. The energy of the
radiation which results is exactly equal to the energy of the forbidden gap.
The impurity levels in the band gap can trap the electron as it loses energy. The
energy taken by the trapping centre results in one of the impurity atoms combining with a
hole or electron in the valence band. A similar thing can result from dislocations in the
lattice structures. In this case there may not be any radiation of optical frequency since
The electron while losing energy can collide with phonons which are the particle
form of mechanical vibrations and after some transfer of momentum, reach the valence
band and recombine with a hole. This is known as the non-radiative Phonon interaction.
Here the energy of the radiation is different from that of the band gap. This transition is
illustrated in fig C.
The transition may also be affected by the presence of shallow acceptor levels, as
shown in figure D. These types of transitions may or may not be radioactive, depending
3) The transition may be directly between band and band or it may involve intermediate
steps.
the energy is released as a single quantum of energy. When the recombination takes
place in more than one stage, it is likely that it is non radiative. It may also result in
more than one quantum of longer wavelength radiation being released. In any of the
level. While doing so, it releases a photon. If Pe, is the momentum of the electron
before transition and Pe2 is the momentum of the electron after the transition,
Pe1 = Pe2 + Kp
where kp is the momentum of the photon, which can be written as mp' C. Application
of the deBroglie Principle leads to K = Eg / C. For gap energies of around ev, the value
of the photon momentum is small and negligible compared to the electron momentum. In
semiconductors where these type of transitions occur are shown in figure. These type of
semiconductors are known as direct band gap semiconductors. The curves in figure show
that the valley of the conduction band is directly above the peak of the valence band. The
natural transition always involves a minimum of change in energy and is from a valley to
the nearest peak. The wavelength of the emitted radiation is given by λ= 1.23/ E g.
Some materials with these properties are GaAs, Ga Al As, Ga ASP etc.
If the peak of the valence band is not exactly below the valley of the conduction band, as
this case, the transition has to involve a change in momentum. The photon momentum is
small and can not account for this change. So for a transition to occur, a third particle has
K
Ga P is an indirect band gap semiconductor. Here, donor - acceptor complex as
(2n , O¯ ) or neutral traps like a nitrogen atom instead of a phosphorus atom in the lattice
In the case of a direct band gap semiconductor, there is no need for a third particle
this case and these materials are likely to be efficient luminescent materials. On the other
hand, for the same reason, the probability of the reverse transition, that of absorption of
photons is also equally high. Thus self-absorption of emitted radiation is also strong in
the direct band gap semiconductors. So the selection of material does not depend only on
this aspect. The most important consideration is the required wavelength of light. The
wavelength of the emitted photon is given by 1.23/ Eg. From this expression, for the
radiator to be able to operate in the visible region, the semiconductor should have an
energy gap of 1.5 to 3.0 ev. This rules out the use of materials like Si and Ge. We have
As already discussed, any process of luminescence involves two stages. The first
one is supply of energy to carriers. The second one is the release of this energy through
energy is given by electrical means. In the case of p-n junction, the excitation is by
creation of excess minority carriers. The process of making the majority carriers in one
region flow across the junction, resulting in an increase in the concentration of minority
energy band distribution in the p-n junction, as shown in figure. The flow of carriers
from the region in which they are the minority carriers to the other region, under the
influence of the internal fields in known as the drift flow of electrons or holes, as the case
may be. The flow of carriers from the region in which they are the majority carriers to
the other region is known as the diffusion flow. Under equilibrium conditions, the drift
flow and the diffusion flow balance each other. When a forward bias is applied to the p-n
junction, the potential barrier is lowered and more electrons flow into the p-region. This
means that the minority concentration in the p region is increased. Simultaneously the
minority concentration in the n region is also increased. These excess minority carriers
combine with the majority carriers in that region and release energy in the form of
electromagnetic radiation.
It is preferable that the emission of the radiation is from either of the two regions.
This is achieved by doping one of the regions more heavily than the other. Suppose the
case may be. Since n+ is more heavily doped than p, the flow of electrons from n+ to p
result, the minority concentration in the p region becomes greater. The rate of
recombination is proportional to the concentration and is more in the p region. Thus the
light emission will be predominantly from the p region. In this case we call the n+ region
the base and p the emitter. In general the more heavily doped region acts as the base and
The efficiency of the light emission depends upon the total number of the excess
minority carriers in the emitter region and the number of these that participate in radiative
recombination. This in turn depends on the current that causes these transitions. The
total current that is flowing through the diode depends on the effect of all the transitions
4) Current due to the charge carriers piercing through the potential barrier. This is
The ratio of the current providing the excess memory population in the emitter to the total
current is know as the injection efficiency of the diode γ..Ne, the internal quantum
efficiency or simply the 'Yield' of a LED is defined as the ratio of the number of photons
The parameter γ refers to the efficiency with which the charge carriers are injected
into the active region. The parameter Ne gives us the efficiency with which these
injected charge carriers are converted into photons. Therefore, in order to determine the
effectiveness of the process of injection Electro luminescence, we have to look at the
product γ Ne.
depends on the rate of recombination. The rate of recombination depends upon the
number of excess carriers available. If the number of electrons in the p region before
injection is Npo and their number after injection in N. The excess electrons are N - Npo.
If the life time (average time before recombination of these electrons) is Tp, the rate of
N N N po
t p
This rate refers to both radiative and non radioactive recombination and we may
write
dn dn dn
dt dt RR dt NR
Thus leads to the need for defining T RP and TNR as the life times of the electrons which
dn 1
dt RR RR 1
dn 1
1 RR
dt p NR
Thus for an efficient source, it is necessary that TRR/ TNR be as small as possible. The
life time of charge carriers causing radiative recombination must be as small as possible
and that of the charge carriers causing non radiative recombination should be as large as
possible.
In an indirect band gap material like silicon TRP is about 10ms and TNR is about
In a direct band gap material like GaAs, TRP is as low as 100ns, resulting in an
efficiency of 0.5.
direction. At low current densities Ne more or less is proportional to the current density,
showing a sharp rise with increasing J (figure.) At one stage, the diffusion
component becomes more prominent in the total current. So Ne saturates at this value.
After the luminescence centres are all saturated, there is no further possibility of
recombination taking place. Thus any further increase in the current density is likely to
show a decrease in Ne because the injected electrons become more in number and the
number of photons emitted becomes less. However if the edge of the semiconductor are
polished to become mirrors and form a resonant cavity, it is possible to initiate lasing
phenomenon. But the usefulness of the LED also depends on how many of the photons
that are created get out of the LED surface. Let us look at this in some detail.
The photons that are created by the injection process may again be absorbed by
conduction band to higher levels. The photons also may be absorbed by the impurity
levels or the crystal lattice. The photons may also cause excitation of electrons from the
valence band to the conduction band. This particular process is more probable in the case
More importantly, as the photons try to come out from the semiconductor into air,
they are travelling form a denser medium into a rarer medium. If the angle at which the
photon meets the surface is greater than the critical angle, total internal reflection take
place(fig). These photons are likely to be lost in self-absorption.
In general, the loss by absorption is inversely proportional to the penetration
depth X and the surface area available A and directly proportional to the volume of the
crystal. The loss by total internal reflection is most prominent of these losses because
the semiconducting materials have high refractive indcies more than 3.5. this can be
minimised by shaping the surface such that the possibility of the angle of incidence
To cover all these losses, we define a parameter No, called the light out put
Power generated
This parameter acts to modify the product Ne in expressing the efficiency of the
LED. Thus we come to the parameter called the external quantum efficiency η of the
Ultimately this value is equal to the ratio of the photons emitted by the LED in a
given time interval to the total number of electrons passing through the diode in the same
time.
If we want to design an LED which performs better, we must be thinking of
electrons should go into the p region than holes into n region. We have already seen that
a solution for this is to dope the n region more heavily. However, we can notsimply go
on increasing the doping concentration. At levels higher that about 10¯²³ m ¯³ in III-V
semiconductors the impurity levels start to interact with one another and the range of
energy levels they occupy starts to merge with the band edge. The band edge it self is
perturbed and a band tail is formed . The band gap therefore becomes narrower. This
results in a change in the frequency of the light emitted. The Fermi level moves up into
the conduction band in the n region and down into the valence band in the p region. A
semiconductor where the impurity level is high enough for all these to happen is said to
be degenerate. Thus the main effect of doping concentration increasing over a particular
of obtaining a higher minority concentration in the emitter p region. The main aim is to
see that more electrons flow into the p region than holes into the n region. If, somehow,
we can make the potential barrier for the electrons lower than that for the holes, this can
be achieved.
elemental or compound, which is doped with acceptors on one side and donors on the
other side. These junction are known as Homo junctions - Junctions containing the
same semiconductor.
The complete miscibility of the elements in group III and those in group V gave
the possibility of the tertiary and quaternary semi conducting compounds being formed.
The same capability of forming perfect solid solutions also gives raise to the possibility
of forming a junction with one compound on one side and another compound on the other
side. This results in the band gap being different on each side (figure). Such junctions
are called Hetero junctions.
This single crystal grown into two different semiconductors shows different
values of band gap energy, electron affinity, permittivity and all the other properties.
Each of the semi conductors may be doped with either donors or acceptors. Similarly the
doping concentration may also be different. Thus there are four types of hetero junctions
that may be formed n - N, n - P, P - P and N - p, where the upper case letters represent the
higher concentration.
The heterojunction is the starting point in the design of a number of devices. The
band diagram for a heterojunction in the Equilibrium State is shown in figure. In this
case the fermi level is common to both materials. If Eg, is the energy gap in the material,
and Eg2 is the energy gap in the material 2, an energy gap ∆ E = Eg - Eg2
exists at the junction. Since the energy gaps on either side are different, the potential
barrier for electrons and holes are different. This results in the flow of the electrons from
the N region to the P region being greater than that of the holes from the P region to the n
region. Consequently the injection efficiency of the device is considerably greater than
that of homojunctions. If we want to further improve the design, the fraction of the
will be increasing the value of the internal quantum efficiency. For this we have to keep
the injected electrons localised in a specific area near the P-N junction. We have to
prevent them from moving away from this region. One way to stop charge carriers from
moving along the field direction is to create an additional potential barrier. This can be
done by the provision of a third semiconductor layer, whose energy gap is such that an
gain from this second potential barrier. A narrower energy gap means a longer wave
length absorption band and the phenomenon of self absorption of the generated photons
will be considerably smaller Again, the different energy gaps mean different refractive
indices and the transmission of photons will be through three media. The critical angle
for the two individual stages will be higher than what it would have been, if there were
only two media, thus the total internal reflection loss is also reduced. Another reason for
improved performance is that the wider band gap regions are more transparent to the
In order to further reduce the absorption and TIR losses, it has be come common
to use a five layer structure as shown in figure. In addition to the three layers which
make up the double hererojunction there are two contact layers, one of them being the
substrate on which the rest of the layers are grown epitaxially. The middle layer is the
narrow band gap active layer. The layers on either side of it are N and P. If the middle
layer is n we get a N n P double Hetero structure and if the muddle layer is p we get the N
p P structure. The outer most layers are usually narrow band gap materials. These permit
the fabrication of good low resistance ohmic contacts at the device terminals.
If the active emitting region is made narrow enough the phenomenon of total
internal reflection can be utilised to create a wave guide effect. This factor becomes
We can have an idea of the performance of DHLEDS by trying to figure out its
internal quantum efficiency let us assume the recombination time constant of the active
player is Tp1. This is a function of the radiative and non-radiative time constants.
1 1 1
p1 rr1 nr1
On either side of the active region, the heterojunctions give raise to recombination
centres. These recombinations are largely non-radiative. It the recombination are largely
the same, for simplicity), the thickness of the active region is 2d and the
electron concentration is n1 , we can write the net rate of recombination per unit cross
sectional area as
2n1d 2n1d 2n d
2n1s 1
rr1 nr1
1 1 1 s
and
rr1 nr1 d
int
rr1
Thus the smaller the value of s the better the device will be GaAS-GaALAS
junctions give s of the order of 10m/s and In GaAsp-In P system give even smaller
values
Light emitting diodes are generally classified as surface emitting (SLED) or edge
emitting ( ELED ). One typical design of a surface emitting conventional LED is shown
type of structure has a problem in that there is a limit to the current densities that can be
used. Thus there is a limit to the radiation intensity that can be obtained. If we try to
increase the current density above a certain critical value, the temperature starts to
increase, the wave length distribution of the emitted radiation changes. Non radiative
recombinations start to increase and the internal quantum efficiency falls. Increasing
junction temperature also results in the decrease of the life of the LED.
These problems are solved to a large extent in what is widely known as the Burrus
design (figure). In this the temperature rise is controlled by keeping the active region
near a heat sink layer, which is also the positive contact layer. The light emission is from
the side of the substrate. A portion of the substrate is etched away to minimise the
distance between the active layer and the emitting layer. The active layer is separated
from the rear contact by an insulating oxide layer, leaving a small area for the light
emitting region. This concentrates the flow of current into a well-defined lateral region.
These designs is known as a Burrus LED
The Burrus principle extended to double heterostructures results in what are
called the Burrus DHSLED s. In these devices, the etched well in the substrate is taken
to as far as the n-GaAl As confining layer. The isolation of the contact area, when
achieved by the oxide layer as in figure, leaves a large area of inactive Pn junction which
contributes to the depletion layer capacitance. In order to overcome this problem, the
with high-energy protons. This results in lattice damage and increase in insulation. The
thickness of the insulating layer is a function of the penetration depth of the protons
which in turn can be controlled by the bombarding energy. The same effect can also be
achieved by implanting oxygen ions. This type of DH SLED can with stand active area
current densities around 50 A/mm² and an optical power of around 60mw. A number of
modifications of the design are possible, mostly involving the formation of micro lenses
in the material. These micro lenses make it possible to use a smaller active area and still
and two confining layers. The narrow band gap active layer is the region where most of
the radiative recombination's take place. This means that the photon generation is
predominately in the active layer. The two confining layers have a comparatively wider
band gap and confine the charge carriers to the active region which is between the two
junctions. The wider band gap also results in a lower refractive index. Hence if the
photons are to cross into the confining layers they have to move from a region of higher
refractive index to a region of lower refractive index-i.e. from a denser medium to a rarer
medium. This brings in the possibility of total internal reflection. If the active layer
layer, without moving into the confining layers and finally emerges from the sides rather
than the surface. This principle results in the design of edge emitting LEDs or ELEDs as
they are called. Here, the two wide band gap layers are providing not only electrical
confinement but optical confinement also. Since the active layer is made fairly thin, the
possibility of self absorption is also decreased.
The light beam emerging from the ultra thin active region from the sides rather
than from the surface results in a fairly thin output beam. This is of great help in
communication set ups where the beam is likely to be coupled into an optical fiber. If a
surface emitting structure is used it may be necessary to use a converging lens system to
launch the total optical flux into the fiber. In ELED systems this need is eliminated.
Also, since the total optical flux is concentrated over a small cross section, the radiance
order to get a given current density with lower drive currents, the contact layer at the top
can be laid in the form of a narrow stripe, the rest of the surface being crated with an
insulating layer. This is the bases for the structure commonly referred to as the stripe
geometry DHLED. (fig.). The strip geometry results in greater efficiencies since the
If can be designed such that most of the light emission is at one end only by
providing a reflecting crating at one and face and an antireflection creating at the front
end. The stripe geometry also causes the total optical flex to be emitted from a near
circular or elliptical cross section rather than a fan. Thus the effective radiance can be
very high. The size of the output beam gives an increased coupling efficiency into small
NA optical fibers. It must, however, be kept in mind that surface emitters generally
Communication applications call for light sources with (a) high out put power (b)
directionality and (c) a narrow spectral line width. Devices known as super Luminescent
LEDs offer more photon output but stop short of providing optical resonance which
would result in a Lasing output. (figure)
The photon population is increased by giving sufficient drive currents to initiate
stimulated emission. However conditions for optical feed back are not provided, this not
allowing lasing action. This devise thus gives high power incoherent output. The
stimulated emission also causes a narrowing down of the spectral line width. The
structure has its drawbacks in the requirement of high drive currents, non linear output
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Any device that converts optical energy into electrical energy is a photodetector
and the phenomenon of conversion is the photo effect. The photo effect is the result of
excitation of charge carrier inside a material by the optical radiation. There are some
materials whose work function is such that the energy contained in the optical radiation is
sufficient to release the electrons from the material. This is known as photoemission and
photo detecting devices such as photo tubes, photo multipliers etc., These are of limited
interest as far as semiconductor Optoelectronic are concerned though there are areas
the semiconductor is in the form of a p-n junction, the potential barrier seperates the two
types of charge carriers. The spatially separated electrons and holes produce a potential
The photo voltaic effect is the basis for the design of photo diode, photo
transistors, photo thyristers etc., while the photo conductive effect is used in photo
resistors.
energy to electrons in the valence band and lifting them to the conduction band. We can
also visualise this as the optical radiation ionising the semiconductor atoms. If the photo
energy is used in lifting an electron from the valence band to the conduction band it is
known as the INTRINSIC photo effect. If the energy is spent in the excitation of an
impurity trap centre, it is known as EXTRINSIC photo effect. These are comparable to
the radiative and non - radiative transitions we described in the previous chapter.
However, since the population of the impurity trap centres is very small, it is the intrinsic
photo effect that is the dominant phenomenon and causes almost all of the photo e. m. f.
In intrinsic photo effect, the electrons may make direct transitions or indirect transitions
band gap semiconductor. One fundamental condition that has to be satisfied is that the
energy of the photon must be equal to or greater than the band gap energy.
Ep ≥ Ec - Ev
f ≥ ( Ec - Ev ) / h.
This give raise to the concept of a critical frequency. If the frequency is less than
this, excitation of the electrons across the bandgap is not possible. In terms of the wave
length, we define a long wave length cut off of the spectral response λc is given as
1.23/Eg.
The number of electrons that are excited is dependent on the number of photons,
which cause the transitions. This in turn, depends on how deep the radiation can penetrate
into the material. Once an electro magnetic radiation enters a material, the oscillations
begin to get damped gradually. The depth at which the radiation reduces to 1/e of its
original value is known as the penetration depth, χo, of the material. If χo, is large, the
photons can cause transitions over a larger distance and the number of charge carriers
created will be more. The reciprocal of the penetration depth is known as the absorption
coefficient.
PHOTODIODES:
In the two types of detectors, which employ the internal photo effect, the photo
voltaic detectors are used more widely, because of better responsivity and greater
flexibility of design. So we would leco discuss these devices in detail. The simplest of
all photo voltaic devices is the p-n junction diode, whose structure is shown in fig 2.1.
Let us assume that the radiation is incident in a direction normal to the p-n
junction plane, on the n surface χo, is the penetration depth and as the radiation is
incident on the surface, electron-hole pairs are created up to this depth from the surface.
These carriers diffuse into the inner regions and given sufficient time, they would
recombine. This time period depends on the life time of the charge carriers. Keeping the
life time and the mobility of the charge carriers in mind it is possible to design the
distance between the surface and the junction plane such that the possibility of
recombination is minimised. In other words the charge carrier have to reach the junction
before they have time to recombine. Once they reach the junction, the potential barrier
separates them. The holes move into the p region and the electrons, which can not
negotiate the junction field, remain in the n region, piling up at the boundary. The
magnitude of the photo current caused by the movement of the charge carriers, depends
upon the number of photons which charted the charge carriers. Thus it is possible to
control the current by changing the level of illumination. In other words, we can exert
OPTICAL CONTROL on the electric parameters and it is this control that makes the
It must be noted that the photo current is entirely due to the drift flow of the
minority carriers across the junction. Let us compare this with the case in which the
junction is forward biased. In that case, the potential barrier is lowered and current flows
because of the diffusion of the majority carriers across the junction. This diffusion flow
overwhelms the drift component. However, it is only the drift component, which can be
controlled optically. Thus the diffusion current is parasitic in photo diodes. It becomes
impossible to exert optical control if the diode is forward biased. Thus it is necessary that
a photo diode should always be operated with a reverse bias or no bias at all.
The potential difference caused by the accumulation of charges on either side of the
junction is called the photo EMF. The current caused by the drift flow of the carriers is
the photo current. As the drift flow increases the charge accumulated on either side of the
junction and consequently the photo EMF increase. The photo EMF is opposite in sign to
the junction field. Therefore, the increase in photo EMF causes the lowering of the
potential barrier. This decreases the ability of the potential barrier to separate the charge
carriers. Ultimately there comes a point where the potential barrier is no longer capable
of separating the holes and electrons. This is the point of saturation of the photo diode.
If Ø is the optical flux incident on the photodiode, we can write the number of
photons falling on the surface as Ø /hf , hf being the energy of each photon. Let us
assume each photon creates η charge carriers. This is known as the INTERNAL
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY. The total charge generated is η Ø/hf . Now we have to see
how many of these carriers escape recombination on their way to the junction region.
This is given by the base transport factor rB. Altogether the photocurrent can be written
as
This equation suggests that the Ip- Ø curve must be perfectly linear. However all
the parameters in the above expression are dynamic parameters and vary with conditions.
We have already seen those at large values of Ø, the curve tends to level off. Similarly at
lower levels of Ø also the base transport factor is slightly lower and upto a certain Ømin
At the
short wave length region, the energy absorption in the surface layer of depth Yo is much
higher. This also causes greater levels of recombination. Due to this increased
recombination, there is a decrease in the responsivity at the short wave length region and
there is a practical short wavelength length cut off, in addition to the long wavelength cut
off λc. The dynamic natures of the parameters make the response curves even more
complicated. For instance, the penetration depth Xo depends on the wave length and the
Xo or its reciprocal, the absorption coefficient with wavelength is sharp, then the peak
response is a function of the cut-off wave length. It the rate of change of Yo with λ is
small, then the peak response depends on the rate of recombination r. This, we can
adjust by varying the base width. Silicon is an example of the second type of material and
as the number of electrons created by each photon absorbed by the semiconductor. The
the number of electrons collected at the detector terminal to the number of photons
numberofelectronscollected
numberofphoton sin cident
rateofcollectionofelectronsper sec ond
rateofphoton sin cidentper sec ond
The value of η is influenced by (a) the absorption coefficient of the material, (b) the
base transport factor and most importantly (c) the frequency of incident light.
A more practical parameter of a photo detector is the actual photo current that
results from unit optical power incident on the detector. This is known as the
RESPONSIVITY, R.
Ip
R amperes / watt
Po
where Ip is the output photo current and Po is the input optical power in watts.
If the frequency of the incident radiation is f, then the energy of each photo is hf. From
this we can write rp the number of photons incident per second as Po/hf. The photo
current can be written as the number of electrons collected per second multiplied by the
thus
Po rp hf
and
I p re e
re e e
This gives us R
rp hf hf
This equation gives us a way of calculating the amount of optical power required
to give a certain photo current which can be very important in designing sensor systems.
Noise in Detectors:
The performance of an optoelctronic instrumentation device depends on the
faithfulness with which the detector output follows the optical input variations.
Unfortunately, this faithfulness is not this. The basic one is what is generally called shot
noise. This stems from the fact that the current flow is not continuous but quantum in
nature. The amount of charge flowing has to be the charge on so many electrons. The
smallest step of increment is the charge on each electron. This on a microscopic scale
there is always a fluctuation around the average value. The r.m.s value of this shot
current is given by
1 1
i
2
s
2
2eBI 2
The other contributor to the noise current is the dark current in the device, which
The NEP is defined as the incident optical power, at a particular wavelength required
P0 hf
R
I p e
I p hc
P0
e
Now we use the photo current value equal to the shot noise current
1
I p 2eIB 2
The photo diode average current would include the dark current also
I I p Id
1
I p 2e I p I d B 2
I p 2eB
2hc
NEP P0 (since B has to be put equal to 1 )
n
On the other hand if there is a considerable dark current, as in the case of the
1
I p 2eI d B 2
1
hc 2eI d 2
NEP
e
D = 1/ NEP.
The Specific Detectivity is a parameter which takes into account the area of the
1
D* DA 2
SPEED OF RESPONSE:
depends on the speed with which it responds to the input variations. This is not only due
to the time lapse between the output signal and the input signal. It is also likely to effect
response time must always be within specific critical values depending on the process
parameters. In general, it can be said that the speed of response must be as high as
possible.
among them is the efficiency with which the electric field at the junction separates the
charge carriers. The speed with which the charge carriers cross the junction determines
the time taken for separation. If is the junction width and Vmax the drift velocity the
transit time is /Vmax. The junction thickness depends on the impurity concentration.
The drift velocity depends on the time constant of the junction capacitance. These are
some of the factors to be taken into account while designing the diodes. The normal
not the instantaneous speed but the way in which the current through the load varies with
time, when the input is in the shape of a pulse, the output pulse shape is dependant on this
factor. The time taken for the output current to raise to a particular value and the time
taken for the current to fall to zero from that value are the important parameters in
deciding the output pulse shape. So we want the rate of change of excess minority
excess hole concentration be ∆p. The distribution of these excess carriers at different
values of x can be written as d (∆p )/d x. Now as the diode continues to be illuminated,
there will be a variation in this distribution. This variation in dependant on the hole
distribution constant and can be written as Dp. d²(∆ P) / d x². However, this number has
to be reduced by the number of charge carriers which recombine. If the life time of the
holes in the n region is Tp, then the fraction of holes which recombine is given by ∆ P /
Tp. So putting these together, we get the time rate of change of minority carriers to be
region is zero. Suppose the illumination starts at t=0. Instantaneously a hole population
starts to build up at the surface, where x = 0. The current caused by the hole population
d(∆p)/dx |=Ip/(q*Dp)
x=0
At the junction, where x=w, there is no current at t=0 and (∆ P)x=w=0. Applying
Once the charge carriers reach the junction it is the efficiency with which they are
separated which determines the growth of the photo emf and the slope of the
Suppose a rectangular light pulse arrives at the n side of the diode at time t = 0.
This triggers the flow of the minority carriers in the n region. The concentration of the
minority carriers increases with t. As the number of carriers increases so does the
probability of collisions and consequent rate of recombination. Also as the flow of
minority carriers increases the hole current through the junction begins to grow and the p
region continues to charge positively with respect to the n region. This results in the
photo emf increasing. After sometime tp, the rate of recombination will be balanced by
the rate of carrier generation and the photo emf reaches a steady value. The time TR is
the raise time of the pulse. After the pulse ends, concentration of minority carriers
Thus the build up of photo emf takes a specific time period dependant upon the
rate of generation of excess carriers and the rate of recombination. Each of these
processes is governed by the life time of holes tp. The speed of response also depends on
Improving the speed of response of a photo diode therefore has to look into either
decreasing the transit time Ttr or increasing the hole life time. It will be the electron life
Ttr depends on WB and Dp. The minimum value for WB normally is 10 microns.
If we decrease WB further the response lowers and the response peak also shifts towards
the short wavelength region. Dp for normal doping levels is around 0.01 m² s¯¹ . Which
gives Ttr around 100 ns. So it becomes necessary to look outside Si and Ge as
fabricating materials. III-V semiconductors, which have been discussed earlier, have
we need a greater depth through which the charge carriers are generated 2) we need to
increase the speed of diffusion while at the same time keeping W B at around 10 microns.
The transit time can also be written as W/V and we have to look to increasing V. The
first requirement means we have to decrease the rate of recombination. Most of these can
be achieved by using 1) a narrow p region where the generation of charge carriers takes
that we can call it intrinsic and 3) a final n region which is comparatively doped heavily
which will provide good external contacts. This is known as the PIN Diode. See fig
(2.6).
The advantages of this structure are many. The junctions P-I and I-N can be made very
sharp, thus decreasing the time constant to around 10¯¹¹ sec. Thus the drift time is
decreased. The initial p region can be brought to the minimum possible thickness but
need not be made too thin. Since the resistivity of the I region is pretty high, almost all
the applied voltage drops across this region. This creates a strong and homogenous field
which pervades the whole I region. This field sweeps the free carriers towards the
junction. Since the impurity concentration is very small, the collisions are also
comparatively less.
The velocity with which the charge carriers are swept across the intrinsic region is
given by μ E, where E is the electric field. So the transit time can be written as W/ μ E
2 2 KT
TTRpin V q 0.5
2sr (approx)
TTRpn Vsr Vsr
2 Dp
Given a reverse voltage of 0.1v, gives double the speed of the PN Diode. For a given
speed PIN Diodes can operate at longer wavelengths. However the intrinsic region
p type semiconductor junction. The fermi level in the metal is higher than that in the
semiconductor. This means that if we consider any one particular energy level, the
probability of its being occupied is greater in the case of the metal than in the case of the
semiconductor is lower than that in the metal. When there is an ohmic contact between
the two, a fraction of the electrons move from the metal into the p type semiconductor
and will neutralise some of the holes present there. As a result a negative space charge
appears at the interface (Similarly, if the semiconductor is the n-type, a positive space
charge develops). When a forward bias is applied the barrier lowers and when a reverse
Used as a photo detector, the light energy is made to be incident on the metal side.
Thus it becomes possible that photons of energy less then the semiconductor band gap
energy also are absorbed. For the flow of photo current it will be sufficient if the
quantum energy is greater than the schottky barrier. Thus the long wavelength cut off is
shifted towards longer wavelengths. Similarly, since the absorption region extends till
the space charge layer, photons of higher energy can penetrate up to the space charge
layer. This extends the short wavelength cut off also. Since the base resistance is also
very small the base being a metal, the time lag is also considerably reduced. Thus the
schottky barrier photo diode operates over a wider spectral region with considerable
speed. However the formation of the metal semiconductor junction is not easy and the
Heterojunctions. For instance let us consider a hetero structure of GaAs and GaAlAs as
band gap Ga Al As does not absorb the photons and acts as a window. Almost all the
radiant energy is absorbed in the active layer, the n type Ga As, and gives raise to charge
carriers. The holes travel freely to the p region while the electrons travel to the n region.
In this case the difference of band gaps on either side of the heterojunction is about o.4
ev. If the width of the active region is chosen to absorb all the photons and the purity of
the region is high, the loss of photo carriers due to recombination can be minimised and a
high efficiency very near 100% can be obtained. Since the entrance window is
transparent, the photons reach the active region rapidly and the speed of the photo diode
The wave length of operation depends on the difference between the band gaps on
either side of the heterojunction. The penetration depth for the transparent window is
anyway very large. Thus, in order to design a detector for a specific wavelength region,
diode. This means that the normal operating reverse bias given to the detector is much
less than the breakdown voltage. As a result the reverse leakage current is kept a
that of homojunctions and this stands in the way of their being used more widely. The
All the detectors we discussed so far, the photo emf or the photo current depends
on the number of charge carriers which escape recombination. Thus the efficiency is
always less than 100%. When it becomes necessary to detect feeble light signals, this is
not always sufficient. In order to get an output pulse of sufficient amplitude we have to
amplify the output of the detector. Instead of using an external amplifiers it is also
The first type of detector we consider under this family is the photo transistor. In
principle, we use the photo current here as the base current and the output is drawn from
the collector. The structure of the device is shown in figure (2.8).
Since the input to the base is the photo current, base does not require a separate terminal.
Absorption of light flux by the base results in the creation of charge carriers.
These are separated by the collector junction. The holes cross into the p region while the
electrons remain in the n region. This build up of electrons causes a space charge layer at
the emitter junction. As a result the potential barrier at the emitter junction is lowered
and holes cross in to the n region and the total current is increased.
The out put characteristics of a photo transistor are therefore similar to those of an
ordinary bipolar transistor .. The current responsivity of the photo transistor will be p
times the responsivity if only the collector junction was operating, p being the common
will be some current flow even if there is no base current (see curve for Ø-O in fig )
Therefore the dark current in a phototransistor has an appreciable value and is given by
Id=Ieo (1+ß)
The temperature stability of the device is also low because the base operates with
In order to improve the gain and decrease the switching time the base width has to
be decreased. But if we decrease the base width, the area available for flux absorption
will be less. Thus the optimum switching time obtainable is about 10¯ s.
To improve both the gain and switching time it is preferable to use a diode for
detection and transistor for amplification. If both of them are fabricated on a single
monolithic chip; the device is known as a composite photo transistor. The structure is
diode can be designed for high speed and the transistor can be designed for high gain,
neither one affecting the other switching time are around 10¯ s.
A more commonly used structure is the photo darlington , where two transistors
current of the 1st transistor IB1 . The current through the first collector Ic, is given by
ßıIB1. The current through the first emitter is ( 1 + ßı) IB1. The current through the first
emitter is fed to the second base and can be redesigned as I B2. The current through the
second collector is I B2 ß2 or (1 + ßı ) ß2 I B1 .
Ic=Icı+Ic2= ßı IB1+ ß2 I B2
= I B1(ßı + ß2 + ßı ß2)
The photo darlington can give on output current that is about 1000 times that of
the ordinary photo diode. The switching time of a photo darlington is, however, high,
being around 10 s.
Avalanche Photodiodes:
Devices using the avalanche breakdown phenomenon in p-n junctions give better
out put voltages than any of these. The APD or the Avalanche photodiode is very widely
generated carriers acquire high energies while crossing the break down field. It becomes
possible for the carriers with sufficient energy to collide with the lattice sites and create
new electron hole pairs. This is known as impact ionisation (fig.2.11b). It is likely that
the newly generated pair will, in turn create another pair and this action can cascade.
Current gains in excess of 100 are readily obtainable. However there are two specific
drawbacks the first is that the current gain varies with the value of the bias voltage. The
second one is that the multiplication process is not necessarily limited to photo generated
carriers. So any noise is also automatically multiplied. The third is that the avalanche
process takes some time to build up and this increases the switching time.
The avalanche process itself is erratic and random. There are fluctuations in the
in switching.
Normally the bias voltages required for impact ionisation are about 50 to 400v
depending upon the junction. Newer designs however made it possible to use bias
As avalanche photo diode usually produces asymmetric pulses. This is due to the
pulse rise time depends on the fast electron transit and fall depends on the slower hole
transit, silicon, germanium and III-V heterostructures have widely been used in APD
We now come to two special types of structures. Even though these can not be
said to be radiation measuring systems; they very certainly are radiation sensing systems
flow at the three junctions. Let Ip, be the photo current generated at p1 n1 junction, Ipa
Each of these currents will have some effect on the current at the other junctions.
Let the total current through the p1 n1 junction be Ij1 , n1 p2 junction be Ij2 and p2 n2
junction be I j3.
The structure can be considered to consist of two transistors, one p-n-p and the
other n-p-n. Let us say the intrinsic current through the collector junction of the first
transistor is Ico, the total current through that junction consists of three parts. The first
one is the current generated at that junction. This is the sum of the intrinsic current and
the photo current, (Ico+Ip2). The second part is the effect of the current at the first
junction. This current is Ijı = I + Ipı . If αı , is the current gain then the effect of Ijı
at J2 will be (I+Ip1 ) αı . The third part is the effect of the current at the third junction.
This is given by Ij3=I+Ip3. If α2 , is the current gain of the second transistor, the effect of
Ip1 = Ip2=Ip3 =0
If we draw the V-I characteristics for ø = o, it will appear as the curve (a) of fig (2. 13)
When the photo thyristor is illuminated, the R.H.S. of eqn (2. ) will have the
additional terms. This results in the required current appearing at lesser voltages. As the
in fig 2.13.
Thus, the switching voltage of the thyristor decreases with increasing
illumination. The quantity Ip1 αı + Ip2+ Ip3 α2 plays the role of the control current in the
ordinary thyristor.
----------
FIBEROPTIC SENSORS FOR PROCESS INSTRUMENTATION
derived from a sensor, an electronic device which performs some processing on this input
In the present context we are concerned with sensors which use optical fibers.
The essential function of a sensor is to convert one form of input energy, which we call
the measurand into another form of energy. The output can also be the same form of
energy but in another mode, for instance amplified. The process of energy conversion in
a transducer can be a single stages processor a two-stage process. In a fiber optic sensor
the measurand is made to change the features of a light beam transmitted along the fiber
and these changes are used to create or modify an electronic signal in the receiver or
actuator. This two stage process in absolutely basic to the operation of a fiber optic
sensor. Therefore it is necessary that both the stages of interaction are very carefully
designed.
Fiber optic sensors are extremely useful in several applications. In areas where
high and variable electromagnetic fields are present, the immunity of fiber optic systems
makes them very useful. In a large member of avionics and space systems where weight
and radar or radiation signatures from the instrumentation are important considerations,
fiber optic systems have found extensive applications. The ever increasing activity in
importance, we can use fiber optic sensors with advantage. Similarly the security
industry is mainly attracted by the noise immunity, remote operation and safety
considerations.
or similar influence. The light from a source is guided through a fiber to the point at
which the measurement is made. At this point there are two options available. The light
beam can be made to come out of the fiber, modulated in a separate zone and re launched
into either a second fiber or the same fiber. This type of sensor is called an Extrinsic
sensor. Here the fiber is simply used as a carrier of information and plays no part in the
modulation. On the other hand, we can modulate the light while passing through the
fiber in response to the measured. In this the characteristics of the fiber are used in
The specific merits of a fiber optic sensor system depend on the possibility of
carrying capacity of a fiber is enormous and thus gives us the capability of multiplexing
The modulator M can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. If the signal from the source
is S and the transmission factor of F, is T, the energy that reaches the modulator is ST.
measurand . If the transmission factor of F₂ is T₂, the signal that reaches the detector
system is ST, T₂ QM. If R is the responsive its of the detector. The output electrical
The heart of a fiber optic sensor is obviously the modulator where the light signal
digital or analogue. The foremost of the analogue quantities is the intensity. The
intensity is the parameter to which all optical detectors finally respond. The sensors
typically use the position of a moving mirror back into a fiber or a mask, which varies the
aperture, and in turn the transmission through a fiber. Shot noise in the source or detector
and variations in the response of the detector system are likely to cause false triggering
phase, where even changes of the order a microradian can be detected. Phase
here we use the phase variation between two orthogonal polarisation vectors. Intrinsic
A fourth parameter that can be modulated is the color or the frequency of the light
beam. This lends itself to unambiguous detection by the use of filters. The widest
make the input light signal to fall on a vibrating mirror the out put light has a modulation
frequency same as that of the mirror. This frequency can be made to be dependant on the
measurand.
interfaced with optically powered low power systems. In these the output from a
In this foregoing, we will look at the structural details of a number of fiber optic
sensor systems which are useful in measuring and monitoring process variables.
Displacement sensors :
Fiber optic displacement sensors are generally intensity modulated. These find
(b) The same configuration can also be used as a long itudinal displacement sensor, the
output current giving the difference between the two detectors outputs. This
(e) In the place of the shutter if we use a moveable grating in conjunction with another
the 'normally ON' configuration. With this component however it becomes difficult to say
whether the switch is off or if there is any fault in the fiber link. Therefore usually the
shutter is arranged to close the optical path only partially. Due to this, even if the switch
is off there is still some energy coupling between the two fibers. If this energy does not
The fiber optic on-off switches find application in components called optical fiber
interrupters. The principle function of the interrupters is to detect moving objects. These
can be either reflection type or transmission type. In the reflection sensor the light
become emitted from the fiber is reflected back into the same fiber. In case of the
transmission type the objects act like a shutter, resulting in no light being coupled into the
output fiber. In general, their interrupters employ incoherent light, use large core plastic
fibers and the minimum delectable size of the object is. These can
Operate from -40° C to 70 ° C. These can be utilised for the following applications
among others.
1) Mark detection ---- Date stamping and character pattern recognition.
Color codes.
3) Defect detection
4) Label detection
It is possible to design complex position and mark sensors like bar code readers or
signature verification using arranged fiber bands. These again can be reflective or
Optical Microswitch:
about 20dB. When a greater level of fault detection sensitivity is required use is made of
are connected to the mechanical interface, which takes in the parameter under test. When
the retroreflector is shifted or inclined form its normal position, the light flux is no longer
reflected into the fiber and the output signal is zero. This type of microswitches find
special application in the oil industry for detecting value positions, indicating whether the
value is open or not. When it becomes necessary to test several positions, it becomes
necessary to code the test signals. In these circumstance we use what are called delay
lines. These are additional lengths of fiber added in any particular path. This works on
the simple principle that the greater the distance to be traveled, the more is the time taken
by the light pulse to return. Thus one pulse can be made to return after another. Let us
The 3dB coupler devides the pulses from the LED into the inputs of the two paths
one of the paths has a delay line incorporated. After the delay line the pulses go the
microswitch, come back, and are detected by the PIN Diode. Signals of the type shown
Depending upon the microswitch configurations, these signals may mean valve
closed, valve open, intermediate etc. This system makes it possible to sense value
position over a distance of 600m with a PCS fiber having an 8dB/km-transmission loss.
Longer distances can be achieved using stronger light sources and fibers with smaller
transmission losses.
Temperature sensors:
semiconductor which again is dependent on the band gap and 3) the temperature
can operate in temperature ranges of -100 ° C to 400° C. High temperature sensors with
ranges of 500° C to 2000° C are usually based on black body radiation and principles of
optical pyrometry. The first type of FOTS are usually point contact type and find
application in microwave processes in the industrial plants like drying methods for tablets
(pharmaceutical), and wood, curing processes for glues, resins and plastics, heating
processes for food, rubber and oil, joint welding. More than all of these, the strongest
attention is now centred on semiconductor device fabrication which may use processes
like plasma etching, ion imphanlation etc which are done in electrically hostile
environments. Similarly since the OFTS are chemically inert, they have advantages for
Hybrid temperature sensors use the temperature sensing elements like a platinum
resistance and combine them with fiber optic transmission. We will now describe some
The operation of this sensor depends on the fact that the energy band gap of most
greater than the band gap energy, that energy is absorbed by the semiconductor and used
up in upward transitions of the electrons. If the incident energy is less than the band gap
energy. It will not be absorbed by the semiconductor. Therefore for energies less than
the band gap energy the light intensity transmitted by the semiconductor will be
considerable. As the energy crosses the band gap energy, the intensity will show a sharp
Transmission curve. On the other hand, if we try to see the wave length transmission
relation, at wavelengths below a particular value corresponding to the energy band grap
there will be no transmitted intensity and above that wavelength value the transmitted
intensity is considerable. This is shown in figure. (b) The critical value of the wavelength
is known as the absorption band edge. If a light signal near the absorption band edge
falls on the semiconductor, as shown in the figure, the transmitted, intensity will depend
on the point where the absorption band edge intercepts the signal pulse.
Now with increasing temperature, the energy gap of the semiconductor decreases.
As a consequence, the absorption edge shifts towards longer wavelengths. This result in
decreased transmission of the signal pulse through the semiconductor, as shown in figure
Therefore this variation in intensity will be a measure of the temperature. The
basic requirement is that the signal pulse must be in the region of the absorption edge.
Therefore it is common to use Ga As as the sensor and a Al Ga As LED which gives out
light at 0.88 in conjunction. The band edge shift for Ga As is about 3A° per degree
kelvin.
capillary tube of 2mm diameter. The front surface of Ga As is coated for anti-reflection.
The back surface of the GaAs chip is coated with gold to return the light into the
fiber.
take care that loss either in the fiber or connector will not cause measuring errors. For the
purpose we send another signal of wavelength much higher than the absorption band
Its wavelength being far way form the absorption edge, the semiconductor will
not absorb this signal and the transmitted energy will not be affected by the shift in the
band edge. However the losses in the fiber and couplers will be the same for both the
signals. While measuring, the ratio of the transmitted intensities of the two signals is
taken to be indicative of the temperature. The system configuration for this sensor is as
LED is the reference signal provider sending pulses of λs= 1.3 . These are guided
through fibers and couplers 1 and 2 to the sensing element. In the sensing element, the
coupler 2 diverts the out put signal to the Ge APD detector, which can be used here
since any variation will be felt by both the signals. Finally the signal processor
normalises the test signal with the reference signal and sends it to a display as a
temperature value.
Using a Ga As sensor, AlGaAs LED, a silica fiber of 100 core and a sensor
diameter of 2mm, it is possible to achieve an accuracy of better than ±2.0°C in the range
-20° to 150°C .
Temperature sensor using semiconductor photo luminescence:
valence band are excited to higher levels, when they fall back to the ground level,
luminescence and results in the design of LEDs. We have seen that semiconductors are
useful for this purpose due to the proximity of their band gap energy to the energy of
electromagnetic radiation in the optical region. The excitation of the electrons to the
upper levels can also be achieved by supplying energy in the form of light. This
semiconductor surface has a photon energy greater than the band gap energy, electrons in
the valence band absorb this energy and jump to the higher levels. When they fall back
they will emit light. It should be noted that, whatever be the value of the exciting energy,
the emitted photons would always have an energy corresponding to the band gap. Thus
the frequency of luminescent energy is always less than that of the incident light. In
increasing temperature results in the decrease of band gap energy. Therefore a raise in
remembered that the sensor material being a solid, the emitted light consists of not a
single wavelength but a small spread of wavelengths as shown in the figure. With
increasing temperature, this curve will move towards longer wavelengths. If we pass this
light through an high pass interference filter whose cut off is not steep but gradual, some
of the wave length will be reflected and the rest will be transmitted, as shown in figure.
In position A, most of the light will be reflected and only a small percentage
small amount is reflected and most of the light is transmitted. The ratio of the reflected to
giving out intensity sufficient for the measurement sensitivity to be achieved. For this
purpose we use a double heterostructure, where we know that the localisation of charge
generally used. The sensing element is attached to the end of a 100-core silica fiber. The
source for excitation is a LED with peak wave length of around 750nm. The sensor
diameter is around 0.6mm. The system configuration is shown in figure. The
excitation signal from the LED is brought in through a fiber. At the end of the input fiber
a GRIN lens is attached and the light is focussed on to a steep cut off interference filter,
IF. IF is transparent to the luminescent wavelengths but not the excitation wavelength.
Therefore the excitation signal is reflected back into the GRIN lens which couples it to a
IF1 is attached to a small glass block. The luminescent light from the sensor
comes through the second fiber, meats 1F1, travels through it and refracted at the surface
of the glass block, falls on IF2, which transmits some intensity and reflects some. The
detector 2. The output of the two detectors are fed to a signal process or which calculates
the ratio and possibly also the temperature if sufficient data has been fed into it.
And remote measurement from about 600 to 700 meters can be very conveniently done.
Phosphor sensor :
temperature dependant fluorescent emission from phosphors. When the phosphors are
excited by ultra violet light, they reemit lower energy fluorescent light. As the
have several emission lines, each having a different temperature dependence. In order to
eliminate variation in parasitic losses, the ratio of the intensities of two emission wave
lengths is measured.
The phosphor material commonly used is gadolinium oxysulphide activated by a
small amount of Europium. The composition is selected for a best match to the selected
silica core with a minute amount of the phosphor (about 200g) attached to the fiber end.
The diameter of the prove is less than 1mm. The schematic of the sensor is as shown.
The high intensity UV light from an incandescent halogen lamp is guided along
the fiber to the sensor to excite the phosphor. The visible light emitted by the phosphor
returns to the instrument through the same fiber. The beam splitter and the interference
filters. IF1 and IF2 isolate the two wave lengths and the intensities are detected by the
photo diodes. After the ratio is calculated by the microprocessor, it is converted into
temperature value by reference to the curves stored in the ROM. The accuracy of the set
measurements. One design is shown in figure. In this, the cladding is removed from a
small portion on the tip of the fiber and a thermosensitive material is applied as cladding
in that region. The refractive index of the thermochromic materials is highly temperature
temperature dependent and some of the modes will be lost into the thermosensitive
cladding. Therefore the intensity of light that comes out of the fiber is a function of the
temperature. A typical system which uses a 200/um silica core with plastic cladding in a
miniturised prove 1cm long and 1mm external diameter, gives a sensitivity of 0.1°C in
Another design uses the dependence of light absorption by some liquids. For
example, a cobalt salt in isopropyl alcohol solution, has transmission properties which are
The probe consists of a glass capillary with a mirrored end reflector, filled with
the thermochromic solution. At the other end, two optical fibers, one for bringing in the
light and the other for taking it back are introduced. The intensity of the back reflected
light can be measured with the aid of interference filters and detectors. The over all
dimensions of the probe can be 1cm in length and 1.5mm in diameter. The thermometer
Image sensing:
come in very handy. This is required say for observing the internal organs of the body or
the interior of blast furnaces, burner flames of boilers, or observation, control and
(3000 to 100000) of fibers. Each of these fibers has a diameter of about ten microns and
transmits one element or pixel of the picture. The major difference between an ordinary
fiber bundle and an image sensing bundle is this. In an image sensing fiber, it is essential
that the individual fiber are aligned regularly and identically at both ends of the bundle.
When the image is projected at one end of the bundle, it is split into multiple pixels by
the fibers. The image is then transmitted as a group of light dots with different intensities
and colours and the original picture is reproduced at the end of the bundle.
For industrial applications, the fibers must have a low transmission loss over a
wide wavelength band from the visible to the near infrared in order to transmit images
over long distance with out significant colour changes. For this purpose, the fibers are
made of silica glass. Fused silica fibers have been designed for operation at high
temperatures. In some cases, additional cooling arrangements may be necessary for the
The objective lens projects the image at one end. The eyepiece at the other end
magnifies the received image. Additional fibers are provided for illuminating the
object. The image-sensing fiber is housed inside a protective flexible tube for most part
of its length.
When observing the inside of nuclear power plants the conventional image fibers
can not be used because ordinary glass becomes colour under the influence of radiation.
displacement, acceleration, pressure, flow, level etc. with considerable sensitivity. There
are two specific configurations, which can be used with advantage in most of these
measurements.
The first of these is known as the proximity sensor. The configuration is based on
the laws of reflection and is useful when the surface under test is reflecting. The
S is the source and D the detector. When the object is in position A, the beam
When the object is in position B, (Fig a). The beam does not fall on D and there is no
current. Since the source will always have a finite width, there will be some current from
D even if the photo diode is illuminated only partially. This is illustrated in figure (b).
When the object is at A1 the beam from S, after reflection will cover the surface of the
photo detector partially and a photo current will flow will flow in the Detector Circuit.
The value of the current will be less than that obtained in position A. The amount of
change in current will depend on the distance between A and A' and can be used to
monitor small changes in position. The same case will happen on the other side of A also.
Therefore, for a range of distances on either side of A there will be a photo current
through the detector circuit, reaching a peak at A. The distance photo current plot is
shown in fig.
A2 is the point where the maximum amount of light is coupled into the return
fiber. The raise from A1 to A2, called the front slope, is many sharpers than the fall from
A2 to A3, called the back slope. According to the requirements of measurement either
the front slope or the back slope may be used. However in most of the cases, the front
slope is used.
The sensitivity is dependant on the distance between the two fibers as also the
beam width. The operating distance is also dependant on the distance between the two
fibers. The operating distance can be increased by using a diverging lens. The sensitivity
If one of the sensors is placed at a distance to operate in the front slope and the other
operates in the back slope, then the difference in intensities measured by the two sensor
will be twice the value obtained with either one. The increases the sensitivity by two
times.
to place two proximity sensors one on either side of the object. When the photocurrent in
one increases, the other will be decreasing, thus increasing the sensitivity by two times.
The proximity sensor discussed till now is based on intensity variation. It is also
possible to use information depending upon wavelength variation. The simplest type of
Depending upon the position of the fiber, the wavelength of light fed into it will
be varying. The usual way of locating the position is by using two detectors. One of
them is a reference value, fed by light of the wavelength for which the detector has
maximum sensitivity. The other is connected to the fiber detector. The ratio of the out
puts of the two detectors will give an indication of the wavelength being fed. Obviously
the sensitivity - wave length curve of the detector will be of great help in calibrating the
system. If we keep the fiber in a fixed position, the system can also be used to measure
the angular rotation of the prism. Again, any linear displacement can be converted into
instrument.
Another component which is wave length sensitive is the Fresnel's zone plate.
This is a plate on which concentric circle are drawn (alternately grooves may be cut)
whose diameters vary according to the Fresnel's diffraction pattern. If the circles are
alternate opaque and transparent regions, the system acts like a converging lens. Since
the radio of the circles are calculated according to the wave length, the focal length is
different for different wave lengths . This means that, for any position of the zone plate,
the light convering on a specified point can be of a specific wave length. If the position
of the zone plate is changed, the wave length also will change. If we place a fiber at the
receiving point, the colour of light taken up by the fiber will vary.
If the zone plate consists of alternate reflecting and nonreflecting circles, it will
act like a concave mirror. In this case, we can put both the source and detector on the
MICROBEND SENSORS:
system since it depends on the change in the transmission characteristics of the fiber.
internal reflection. For this it is necessary that the rays should meet the core-clad
When the fiber is bent with a large curvature as shown in figure b, the angle of
incidence will decrease and it is possible that for some rays it will be less than the critical
angle. These rays will not be reflected totally and some intensity will be transmitted into
the cladding. As a result the intensity that is obtained at the end of the fiber will be
smaller. The loss in intensity is depend on the energy lost into the cladding. This in turn
depends on the amount of bending. Therefore it we can find a way of translating linear
displacement into bending of the fiber, the arrangement can measure the displacement in
PRESSURE SENSORS:
The proximity or displacement sensor can be used for pressure sensing if the
pressure sensing diaphragm is made reflective and attached to the fibers of the y guide
The pressure of fluid is felt through the input by the seal diaphragm. The
response of the diaphragm is transferred through the capillaries to the sensing diaphragm.
The sensing diaphragm is made of stainless steel. The light from the LED is made to fall
on the reflecting sensor. The reflected light is taken to the out put circuit through another
fiber. The source intensity is monitored by a photo detector placed by its side.
If the thickness of the sensing diaphragm is about 100 microns, the gauge can
measure pressure up to 3 X 10 kg/m² or 2.94 M. The hysterics is less than 5% and the
linearity is less than ± 0.5% . The drift characteristics are dependant on the material
A second type of pressure sensor uses the microbending principle to good effect.
The problem of highly corrosive environment damaging the sensor element and the effect
silica Two fused silica elements are designed with a grating like teethed area on each of
them. One of them is used as a fixed base plate and the other moves in response to
external pressure. These two are held between two stainless steel flanges. The optical
fiber goes through holes drilled in the flanges and base plate and between the two
corrugated areas. When pressure acts on the moveable silica plate, the fiber is bent and
there is a loss in the transmitted intensity. This loss is a measure of the pressure. This
sensor can work up to 500°C with less than 1% measuring error.
It is also possible to attach a reflecting fresnel zone plate to a member moving in
relation to the pressure. The frequency of light received by a fiber kept at the focal point
ACCELERATION SENSORS:
vibration sensing in process plants. In addition to the small size, one important reason for
this is the possibility of multiplexing sensors placed at various places in the plant.
beam.
The input beam from a fiber is expanded by a grin lens and is converged into the
to the vibrating member via a dead weight inertia system. If the vibrating frequency is
W and the natural frequency of the inertia system is Wn, the amplitude of vibration of the
shutter g(t) is given by (W/Wn) ² h(t) where h(t) is the amplitude of the vibrating
member. The intensity of the out put beam will then be proportional to d2/dt2(h(t) which
is the acceleration.
In zero position, the shutter is arranged to cut off exactly half of the incident
beam. To eliminate parasitic variations the a.c. signal obtained at the output has to be
This system can measure vibrational acceleration from 0.98 m/s) ² to 390m/s) ²
material has been designed. The photo elastic material normally used is a BK7 glass.
The input beam is linearly polarised in a direction at 45° relative to the two
orthogonal axes. When it passes through the birefringence material, a phase difference is
polarised beam comes out. It an analyser is placed in the path of the beam, the out put
intensity is dependant on the elliplicity of the beam. The elliplicity is a function of the
birefringence. The birefringence is a function of the stress. Stress depends on force and
force depends on the acceleration. Here also a dead weight inertia system is used to
Instead of using discrete polariser and analyser, the photo elastic glass is cut at
angles equal to the Brewster angle on either side deposition of dielectric multilayers on
these surfaces helps in having the required value for the brewster angle. The input and
out put beams from and to optical fibers are coupled into the system using GRIN lenses.
The process of normalisation of the input and out put signals is achieved
in this sensor by using a photo luminescent material to generate a reference signal. The
sensor consists of a single cantilever vibrating in response to the test vibration and
neodymium doped glass acting as a photo luminescent material. The light beam of
wavelength λ s from the input fiber travels through the neodymium doped glass to the
cantilever. The vibrating cantilever returns an intensity modulated signal of wave length
λ s. In addition, the neodymium doped glass generates a reference beam of wave length λ
r which is not intensity modulated. Both the signals are received by the same fiber
which brought the original signal. At the end of the fiber the two wavelengths are
separated using two interference filters. The two signals converted into analogue
This sensor gives a range of 0.1 to 700m/s ² with a resolution of 0.1 m/s² over a
Flow Sensors are required in process industry for several applications. The first
one is a direct measurement of the flow velocity. The second is for the monitoring two
phase fluid mixtures, for example distinguishing between liquid droplets and gas bubbles.
The third is again for two phase systems but now distinguishing between liquid particles
and solid particles as in the case of slurries. When the liquids and gases are highly
inflammable as in oil wells and coalmines, use of fiber optic sensors greatly reduces fire
hazards.
turbulence. The frequency of the turbulent vortices is directly proportional to the flow
velocity. In our flow sensor a thin metallic obstruction and a down stream metallic bar
are used as shown in fig (a). Consequential to the shedding of turbulent vortices, the
metallic bar vibrates. This vibration frequency is also proportional to the flow velocity.
diaphragm in the pipe wall. The diaphragm serves as both a seal and a pivot for the bar.
The microbend sensor converts the oscillations of the metallic bar into a corresponding
intensity modulation of a light beam. Thus the time varying mechanical force caused by
the vortices is converted into a time varying light intensity. This intensity is further
converted into electric voltage at the detector. The structure of the sensor and the
complete instrument are shown in the fig (b). This type of sensor is independent of any
light source intensity since we are measuring only the percentage loss due to
microbending. The Optoelectronic part of the instrument consists of source and its power
supply, detector and its power supply, amplifier and signal processing, and display unit.
flow rates ranging in Reynolds Number 5X10³ to 6000 X 10³ can be measured.
Two Phase Flow Measurement :
significant amount of gas in the form of bubbles flowing along with the flowing liquid.
This can be in oil wells or in fermentation in food industry or distillation in food and
pharmaceutical industry and so on. In these cases it becomes necessary to monitor the
exact amount of gas and liquid. It is normally called the void fraction measurement.
Fiber optic sensors can very easily distinguish between moving bubbles and liquid
droplets and display the void fraction. The principle uses the fact that the refractive index
the refractive index of oil or other liquid is normally higher than that of air. While a light
beam coming out of a fiber would be transmitted into the liquid, it is more likely to be
totally reflected if it meets a gas bubble.
The structure of the instrument is shown in figure. The light source is a simple
LED. The light emitted by the LED is guided through a fiber. The end of the fiber is
mounted in a stainless steel needle of 2.8mm outer diameter. The needle goes into the
flow chamber. When the fiber end is in contract with the liquid, very little light is
reflected back into the fiber. On the other hand if a gas bubble is in contact with the fiber,
a significant fraction is reflected back. Therefore, whenever an air bubble comes, there
will be a light pulse returning through the fiber. This pulse, inturn will be converted into
a voltage pulse by the detector. The detector gives an analogue output. This output can
be converted into a TTL output using a signal processor. An integrator following the
signal processor sums up all the bubbles and gives a void fraction out put, which can also
The small diameter of the fiber end enables bubbles as small as 50 micron in
diameter to be detected with an accuracy of better than 5%. The response time is also
Slurries in chemical processes and places like coalmines have to be tested some
times for the actual amount of solid they are carrying. In this case it will be the speed
with which these solid particles are moving, along with the number of solid particles,
which has to be measured. If the solid particles are moving too slowly, this may cause
at different points A & B in the flow path. Light from an LED source is fed along one
arm of the Y. This light, when it meets a solid particle will be retroreflected back into the
Y and reaches a detector placed at the other arm of the y and is converted into a voltage
pulse. The particle, after reaching B will activate the second y guide and give raise to
another pulse there. The time difference between these two pulses is an indication of the
velocity of the particles. The pulses, fed to a signal processing circuit will result in an out
put which gives the speed as well as the volume fraction of the solid.
difference between the liquid and the air space above it. One simple instrument uses the
phenomenon of total internal reflection. This set up is shown in figure. Light from an
external source is transmitted through a fiber and enters the hypotenuse face of a prism,
kept in the tank. The refractive index and the angles of the prism are so chosen that when
the prism is surrounded by air, the angle of incidence at the side of the prism is greater
than the critical angle. When the prism is surrounded by the liquid, the angle of
incidence is less than the critical angle the critical angle when there is air will be
The critical angle when there is liquid will be Sin θ c liq = Nliq / Ng
Obviously Sin θ c liq sin θc air since N liq 1 Ng must be S chosen that Ng, N1
iq and the angle of the prism must be between the two critical angels.
When the liquid level is lower than the point at which the light beam meets the
side of the prism, there will be total internal reflection and the beam, after reflection at
the two sides of the prism, enters the return fiber. There will be a signal from the detector
at the end of the fiber. When the liquid reaches the point where the light beam meets the
side, there will not be any total reflection and most of the light will enter the liquid.
Consequently the signal at the detector will be very feeble and negligible. This fall in the
reached a particular level or not. This we can call it a liquid level switch. The sensitivity
of the instrument depends upon the contrast ratio between the pulses obtained with air
and liquid. This contrast ratio depends on the refractive index of the liquid. For a liquid
of refractive index 1.333 (water) the loss in light intensity would be around 2dB. The
loss gradually increases with the refractive index and saturates at 33 dB for values greater
than 1.4 A well designed sensor can detect changes in liquid level as low as 1mm.
The basic problem with the system is that the prism is immersed in the liquid and
is likely to be contaminated in time. Another problem is that the surface of the liquid will
have some fluctuations as the liquid level increases. Both these problems can be solved
to a large extent by enclosing the prism in a wire mesh enclosure. Even then, it will be
A second design of fiber optic liquid level sensor uses the dispersion
deflected by a different angle and we get a spectrum at the other side. The exact extent
To which a particular colour is deflected depends upon the refractive index.
For this sensor, a hollow prism, with only two sides, is used, as shown in the
figure. As long as there is no liquid and only air inside the hollow, the red and green rays
are in one particular position. Once the liquid comes up to this level and fills the hollow,
the positions of the red and green change. With suitable adjustment and using an
aperture, we can set the instrument such that in the absence of liquid, green light passes
through the aperture and when liquid comes to the level of the prism, red light posses
through it.
A number of the hollow prisms can be located at different levels in the tank and
the combined system can be used to monitor as the tank fills up. We can operate this
In explosive and noxious environments like oil refineries and chemical factories,
it is imperative that any leak of inflammable or poisonous liquids and gases are detected
at the earliest and corrected in order to avoid calamities. Different methods are used to
detect liquid and gas leakage's.
The porous nature of the cladding of a PCs fiber can be turned to our advantage
for this purpose. Optical fiber oil leak sensors can provide intrinsically safe operation.
When there is an oil leak in the vicinity of a PCs fiber, the oil slowly seeps in to the pores
of the polymer. Consequently there is a raise in the cladding refractive index. As a result
light being transmitted through the fiber leaks into the cladding and transmitted
intensity decreases. An alarm circuit connected to the detector is set to trigger when there
is a fall in the intensity to a preset level. Therefore whenever the leak exceeds a certain
This type of oil leak sensor has the advantage that it is simple and can be used as a
distributed sensing system. The use of OTDR techniques will help in pinpointing the
that has leaked. Thus it is necessary to distinguish a particular liquid from others as well
as to detect the location of the leak. For this purpose we use a discrete sensor system,
shown in the figure.
The heart of this sensor is a prism. Light from a fiber delivery system is made to fall on
one of the sides of the prism. After reflection at the base of the prism, the light beam
exits through the other side of the prism, to the collected by another fiber and then to a
detector. Grin lenses may be used to collimate the beam. When there is an oil leak, the
oil spreads below the prism. As a result, there is a change in the reflectivity at the base.
This change is obviously dependant on the refractive index of the oil. Figure(b) shows the
change in reflectivity due to various liquids. This information helps us to find out which
liquid has leaked. Also the particular sensor where this change has occurred gives
information about the location of the leak. Normally a BK-7 prism with refractive index
1.51 and multi mode fibers of 100 micron core diameter are used.
Gas Sensors:
gases such as methane, propane, ethylene etc. as early as possible to avoid serious
photometer, we can find out whether a particular gas is present or not. Normally samples
of the air in the environment are collected and carried back to the laboratory for analysis.
This is a time consuming process and an off line procedure. The alternative is to provide
procedure.
However, most of these inflammable gases have their absorption lines in the near
infrared region. A commercially available ultra low loss silica fiber shows minimal
transmission loss in these regions, 0.8 microns to 1.8 microns. So if we transmit light
after passing through the gaseous environment through these fibers, any loss at specific
wavelengths will only be due to the absorption by the gas and not by the
fiber. The analysis can be at the end of the fiber which can be at a comfortable distance.
This technique can detect gases at concentrations as low as 0.5% of the lower explosion
disaster.
Instrumentation which uses this principle would ideally look at analysing the
figure.
The source of light is a continuous wave halogen lamp, which is a very good
infra-red source. The light from this source is distributed into 30 identical optical fibers.
Each fiber takes the light to a different detection area. After passing through the cells, the
light is taken to the control room by another set of 30 fibers. The receiving unit consists
of three optical switches, each switch consisting of ten different positions. Thus, we can
select any one of the thirty independent locations. After the optical switch, the instrument
has a rotating sector consisting of four interference filters. The peak transmission wave
lengths of three of the interference filters are 1.666 microns for CH4 gas 1.690 microns
for C3H8 gas 1.625 microns for C2 H2. The fourth filter is for a reference wavelength
1.600 microns. The light coming out of the three rotating sectors is detected by three
germanium photo detectors, selected for sensitivity at these wavelengths. The out puts
are amplified and then go to an A-D converter and computer. Here the gas signals are
normalised with the reference signal and compared with concentration-absorption curves
for each gas stored in the computer. The computer output data can be fed to a) a CRT
Operation of the optical switches and the rotating sectors is automated by the use
of timer circuits so that a continuous monitoring / recording of all the thirty locations is
made on a time scale. More locations can be covered by using more units or more optical
switches.
--------
Point Sensor Multiplexing and Networking:
optic sensors are combined into a sensor 'network'. In a point sensor network, at least
two sensors which are discretely distributed in space according to a suitable topological
pattern are operated and controlled by a single central control unit. The main
(1) There must be an unambiguous scheme of addressing any one particular sensor.
The central control unit has several functions. The first one is to power the
network with an optical flux of required intensity, spectral distribution and state of
polarisation. The second one is to detect the returned signal that is modulated or encoded
by the sensor. The third one is identifying the information regarding the measurands sent
by various sensors by suitable addressing, interrogation and decoding. The fourth one is
The term multiplexing involves these four main functions, powering, detecting,
identifying and evaluating. The topological arrangement of the point sensors depends on
In a fiber optic sensor network, the encoded information about the measurand is
transported from the sensor to the transceiver in a link loss insensitive manner. The
multiplexing (WDM). The WDM is unique to the optical sensors, whereas the others are
used with electrical sensors also. If there is no need for external electric power for
sensing, as is the case with most FOS systems, the technique is known as passive
multiplexing.
A key advantage of sensor multiplexing is a reduction in the cost per sensor, since
many sensors are powered and interrogated by the same transceiver unit. The increasing
need to install increasing numbers of sensors in automated factories, off shore plat forms,
air, sea, land and space vehicles, energy distribution systems, medical patient surveillance
systems and so on gives a major thrust to multiplexing applications. This trend is also
Network topologies :
5) The star network operation with transitive sensors which requires two star
couplers.
6) The ladder network is equivalent to the one shown in (5) but here access couplers are
used instead of star couplers. The 'transmit' and 'return' fibers, which are also known as
The choice of a suitable fiber optic network topology needs consideration of the
following points.
In an FOS network, the optical source power coupled into the bus fiber is
distributed over the network via several splices, connectors, couplers, switches,
wavelength Multiplexers and so on. Each of these elements, including the sensors
themselves, contributes to a loss in the optical power, called the insertion loss. This can
be any where from 0.1dB to a few dB. The loss in the fiber is minimal unless it is very
long or bent at any place. Calculating the network power budget leads to the power
margin available at each sensor and the maximum number of sensors that can be operated
Let the input power be O dBm, ie 1mW. Let the coupling ratio of the coupler Ck
= Ck. The measurands modulating the sensor I to N are Xı to X . Each of these sensors
transmit a fraction F of the sensor input intensity through the second coupler. Let us
assume, for simplicity, that both the input and output couplers have the same coupling
ratio. Let us also assume that F is 1 for the max value of the measurand, decreasing with
At the 1st sensor, the output power reaching the detector, P is given by
At the N th sensor
to give numerical values, suppose the total noise loss in sensors and detectors is
70dBm. Let the dynamic range of all the sensors is 20dB. If a 1% accuracy is needed,
minimum power available at each sensor must be at - 50 dBm. Setting F = 1. Let the
coupling ratio be 0.5 dB. Then it can be calculated that 20 sensors can be operated. If
starting out with a small value of C and increasing the coupling ratio until C=1 is
reached at the last sensors. This can lead to an almost constant optical power available at
A number N of fiber optic sensors, each with individual input and return fiber link
may be combined into a topologically simple network by operating these sensors with a
common light source and a multiple detector array or with multiple sources and common
detector. Alternatively, instead of multiple source and detector arrange ments, a single
source or detector in combination with fiber switches or one to N and N to one couplers
addressing sensors via separate fiber links is termed spatial division multiplexing.
elements and distributing elements. On the other hand it has the advantage of being
If the switching functions are performed on a time sharing basis, as shown in the
figure, we can add time division multiplexing feature to the system. Instead of using
fiber couplers, fiber bundles branching into n subbundles may also be used. Here sensor
addressing and interrogation is performed via a motor driven fiber switch, which
have already considered is binary on-off encoding, where each bit of information is sent
In the simplest case time division multiplexing involves active switching from
one sensor to the other in a time dependence manner. This has the advantage of being
free from cross talk. However each sensor can be monitored only for a short period
within the time sharing switching sequence. A more elegant method of TDM sensor
network operation consists of launching short light pules into a transmitted or reflective
array and detecting the returning pulses that are delayed by t = nLi/c where Li is the
fiber link length of the ith sensor, n the core refractive index, and c the free space
velocity of light. The transceiver instrument for reflective TDM operation is known as
the optical time domain reflectometer or OTDR, which is essentially a fiber guided
approximately 5 n s. The pulse duration tp, pulse period T and the set [ Li ] of sensor
links have to be chosen such that T is larger than the echo return time from the most
remote sensor and care should be taken that parasitic signals such as multiple echoes do
not overlap with the sensor signals. For example, in a network where the farthest sensor
is at 500m, T must be larger than about 5 /us, to allow for two way propagation delays.
This requirement places a limit on the capability of monitoring any fast time variations of
the measurand.
The technique is also limited in dynamic range by the maximum optical peak
of enhanced absorption or reflection along a fiber link. Since the technique diagnoses
absorptive and reflective properties at every fiber location, it is also well suited to detect
measureands.
There are three ways to use an OTDR for operating a point sensor network.
(1) A series of absorption sensors are arranged in a transmissive linear array, in the back
scattered signal. Quite obviously the losses in this system are considerable and if we
want high resolution only a few sensors can be used. If we want a resolution of
0.1dB, the total available range of 30 dB will be consumed by only three sensors of
1% accuracy. A greater disadvantage is that if the first sensor fails, the total
(2) Instead of absorption sensors reflection sensors can be used in a reflective linear
array. The reflected signal Pri from the I th sensor is given by Pri = P P where P
Pri is in the range of about 15 to 30d B below P . This is a signal level much higher
than in the previous case. The addition the failure of any one sensor is limited to
only that sensor and does not effect the rest of the system.
(3) A series of absorption sensors can be connected via a ladder network rather than a
faults, in point sensor networks, the sensor positions and distance are known. This prior
information allows as to send long light pulses and use lower band width electronics,
since low range resolution is sufficient when the sensors are widely separated. This gives
positions of the sensors are known, it becomes possible to use narrow range gating to
In order to obtain resolution down to the millimeter range, the propagation delay t
can be converted into a beat frequency rather than using time gating. This is known as
optical frequency domain reflectometry. The basic idea here is using a chirped or
known as a chirped frequency laser. What we are in effect doing is frequency modulating
Part of the injected light is reflected at the fiber-input face and combined with the
period T (= 1/fc). ∆f is known as the peak frequency deviation Tdi( =2n ll/c) is
the round trip time deviation corresponding to the ith sensor at a distance Li. F is the
beat frequency obtained between the return signal and the input reference signal reflected
sensor, according to the time delay. The electrical amplitudes of the fB lines represent the
The main advantage of OFDR over OTDR is in the greater average optical
channel power and narrower allowable receiver bandwidth. Both of these result in a
better signal to noise ratio and hence higher sensitivity and resolution. The resolution is
In this technique each sensor is allowed a frequency channel within which the
that phase modulataion is possible only with coherent light sources. The most common
method used for FDM is the sub carrier FDM. In this, a network of N intensity coded
modulated at three different frequencies. The sum signal returned by the network is
given by
Where A ĸ and Ø are the amplitude and phase of the Kth sensor.
Sensor location and Vg is the group velocity of light identifies the Kth sensor.
the measured components Ri form a set of N (equal to 3 in this case) linear equations.
determined by the system and calibration routine. The unknown vector A is calculated
from the relationship A= Sˉ¹ R. For this the inverse matrix Sˉ¹ is stored in the
microprocessor. The frequencies Wi must be chosen such that the determinant S is non
zero.
This method is widely applied in the case of interferometric fiber optic sensors or
IFOs. Here the measurand modulates the phase of the incoming signal resulting in a
Where V F is the fringe visibility Øx (t) is the optical phase which is modulated in
the time domain by the measurand and p is a function of the input power which includes
to the OFDR technique. The only difference is the phase change being considered is the
FDM. Instead of assigning a frequency band to each sensor, we are assigning a single
frequency. This is a feature that is unique to fiber optic sensors as against conventional
WDM is normally a multi source concept as shown in figure. The figure shows a
system of N transmittive sensors. Light from a set of N narrow band sources via a
combiner and a single input fiber is fed to a wavelength dispersive component like a
prism or a grating which distributes the optical power, according to its wavelength to the
appropriate sensor. The intensities Ik = I(λk), modulated by the sensors are recombined
An improvement over this would be to use the power from a single broadband
source such as an incandescent lamp with a spectral distribution Ps(λ) is split into
channels by flitters or a dispersive component. The signals from the sensors are taken up
by a return fiber and fed to a detector array after demultiplexing. This spectral
It can be seen that in general, there will be a cross talk between the signals. This
may place a limitation on the number of sensors that can be used. This problem is solved
by using thin film interference filters, which have extremely narrow bandwidth, around
10 Angstroms. The use of interference filters is also advantageous in that after the
frequency selection, the remaining power is transmitted practically without any loss.
If reflective sensors are to be used instead of transmittive sensors, the lay out will
be as shown.
It can be seen that two demultiplexers and a single coupler are used A practical
In this layout Fı, F2, F3 are interference filters and C1,C2,C3 are couplers. Upto
40 channels can be accommodated in visible region using narrow band filtering. The
electronic signal processing of WDM systems is relatively simple. Its band width
evolution of fiber optic communication local area networks. Since each sensor in these
systems is powered by its own separate source or by a spectral slice, the power balance is
as simple as in the one fiber per sensor case of spatial division multiplexing. At the same
time it gives much better resolution than TDM and FDM methods. Therefore, from the
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