Sensitivity alteration of fiber Bragg grating sensors with additive micro-scale bi-material coatings

This paper describes a combined fabrication method for creating a bi-material micro-scale coating on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) optical sensors using laser-assisted maskless microdeposition (LAMM) and electroless nickel plating. This bi-material coating alters the sensitivity of the sensor where it also acts as a protective layer. LAMM is used to coat bare FBGs with a 1–2 µm thick conductive silver layer followed by the electroless nickel plating process to increase layer thickness to a desired level ranging from 1 to 80 µm. To identify an optimum coating thickness and predict its effect on the sensor's sensitivity to force and temperature, an optomechanical model is developed in this study. According to the model if the thickness of the Ni layer is 30–50 µm, maximum temperature sensitivity is achieved. Our analytical and experimental results suggest that the temperature sensitivity of the coated FBG with 1 µm Ag and 33 µm Ni is almost doubled compared to a bare FBG with sensitivity of 0.011 ± 0.001 nm °C−1. In contrast, the force sensitivity is decreased; however, this sensitivity reduction is less than the values reported in the literature. (paper)