In-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer as a promising tool for optical nose and odor prediction during the fermentation process

Abstract

In this paper, we present an in-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) applied to coffee bean fermentation monitoring. Two MZIs, based on a combination of a fiber taper cascaded by a micro-tapered long-period fiber grating, were installed in a fermentation barrel to monitor the liquids and gases released during the fermentation process. During this process, a variety of odors arise due to the yeast activity and their classification is important to decide when to stop the fermentation process. In this work, we show that the in-fiber MZIs are good candidates for optical noses in this scenario.