Rapid detection of hydrogen using narrow bandwidth fiber-optic spectral combs with a low limit of detection

Abstract

The all-fiber detection solutions are the key technology to detecting hydrogen leakage in time because of the low explosive limit of the hydrogen-air mixture gas. However, most of the fiber-optic-based hydrogen sensing platforms must disrupt their structure to achieve a special architecture for interacting with the hydrogen. Here, we report a promising non-damaged structure of fiber-optic narrow bandwidth spectral combs, that can be developed to determine the refractive change as low as 10−5 using its cut-off cladding resonance mode. Such high performance of response for the refractive index induces a rapid detection of hydrogen after a proper thickness of palladium was deposited on the device. An average response time of hydrogen of 4 min with a low limit of detection of 348 ppm was achieved. It is demonstrated that these narrow bandwidth fiber-optic resonance combs can be used for gas detection after being combined with functional materials.