A remote fiber optic dosimeter network for detecting hydrazine vapor

A fiber optic chemical dosimeter has been developed for use in the remote detection of vapors of toxic amine rocket fuels (hydrazine and its substituted derivatives) that are used as Air Force and civilian launch sites. The dosimeter employs a colorimetric indicating reagent immobilized in a porous sol-gel cladding on multimode fiber. This reagent reacts selectively with the fuel vapor to produce a strongly absorbing cladding that introduces light propagation losses in the fiber; these losses indicate the presence of hydrazine (N2H4) vapor. The absorption occurs over a broad spectral range ideally suited for interrogation by semiconductor diode lasers. The authors have shown that the dosimeter yields an average hydrazine detectivity of 2.3 exposures of the dosimeter to laboratory air have not adversely affected the dosimeter. Additionally, its response to ammonia vapor has been determined to be 9,200 times smaller than its response to hydrazine vapor