Total-reflection type refractive index sensor
US5565978A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 13, 1994 |
| Grant date | Oct 15, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 13, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N21/43
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A refractive index sensor of a total-reflection type comprises a waveguiding layer of a cladding/core/cladding waveguide structure formed on a substrate. The waveguiding layer has an input face connected to either a single optical fiber or a plurality of optical fibers for injecting a light(s) into the layer, a detection face which, obeying Snell's law, totally reflects/transmits the light beam or beams that have arrived there with an expansion angle from the optical fiber or fibers and which constitutes a surface with which a material whose refractive index is to be measured comes in contact, and an output face which outputs the light reflected from the detection face and is connected to an optical detector. The refractive index of the material of interest is detected from a bright-dark boundary of the presence of the corresponding total reflected light from the detection face. With no need of a bulk prism or lamp-type light source, the sensor is small in size and high in sensitivity.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.