Abstract

Palladium (Pd) based optical fiber sensors are most efficient for detecting hydrogen. In this paper palladium coated side polished optical fiber sensor has been analyzed theoretically. The presence of remaining cladding between the core of the single mode fiber and hydrogen absorbing palladium layer shows a strong effect on the sensitivity. Results are compared with the experimental results reported in literature. We investigated and optimized the thickness for this buffer layer and an improvement of 12% in sensitivity has been achieved.

© 2016 Optical Society of America