Special Issue: "Photonic Sensors in Space" - Sensors Journal

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Caterina Ciminelli
Optoelectronics Laboratory, Politecnico di Bari
Dipartimento di Elettrotecnica ed Elettronica
Via Re David, 200 70125, Bari, Italy
Tel. + +39 08 0596 3404, Fax + 39 08 0596 3610
E-mail: c.ciminelli@poliba.it; http://www-dee.poliba.it/


Summary

The rapid growth and implementation of photonic devices in both civil and military systems have reached the stage of applications of the technology in the space.
Photonics has many already perceived benefits for applications in space, such us small size, light weight, high resolution, electromagnetic interference immunity, capability of operating in harsh environment, multiplexing capability, potentially low cost.
Among photonic devices, sensors have been extensively studied in the last decades for different application fields, with different geometrical configurations, materials and detection schemes, resulting in a large number of designs and a wide range of performance.
Specific requirements from the space application field is pushing the development of new photonic sensors to be used on-board, e.g. for structural monitoring of space vehicles, for detection of chemical and biological substances, for high resolution inertial systems, also integrating the sensing systems to the optical communication networks with consequent advantage of using the optical transmission circuits as monitoring ad diagnostic media.
This special issue focuses on photonic sensors for space applications, with the aim of providing research advances on the potential of the sensors to the space field.

Keywords

photonic sensors, fiber optic sensors, sensor arrays, IR sensors, chemical detection, biological detection, inertial platform

Submission

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All papers should be submitted to sensors@mdpi.org with copy to the guest editors. To be published continuously until the deadline and papers will be listed together at the special websites.

Please visit the instructions for authors at http://www.mdpi.org/sensors/publguid.htm before submitting a paper. Open Access publication fees are 1050 CHF per paper. English correction fees (250 CHF) will be added in certain cases (1300 CHF per paper for those papers that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.).

Planned Papers

Title: "Photonics Nanosensors based on Engenireed Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes : A Review"
Authors: Marco Consales 1, Michele Penza 2, Antonello Cutolo 1, Michele Giordano 3 and Andrea Cusano 1
1 Optoelectronic Division, Engineering Department, University of Sannio, Benevento, Italy
2 Department of Physical Technologies and New Materials, ENEA, Brindisi, Italy
3 Institute for Composite and Biomedical Materials, National Research Council (IMCB-CNR), Portici, Italy
Abstract: This paper review the use of carbon nanotubes as advanced nanostructured sensitive coatings integrated with the optical fiber technology for the development of high performances opto-chemical nanosensors for a wide range of environmental monitoring applications, ranging from chemicals detection both in gaseous and liquid phase to cryogenic hydrogen detection for space applications. The Langmuir-Blodgett technique has been chosen for the deposition of nanometer-scale thin films of single-walled carbon nanotubes upon the distal end of standard silica optical fibers, in order to form a low finesse Fabry-Perot interferometer working in reflectometric configuration. The principle of operation of the proposed sensors relies, therefore, on the measurement of the changes in the intensity of light reflected at the fiber-film interface occurring as a consequence of the changes in the optical (complex refractive index) and geometrical features (thickness) of the sensitive elements. Such modifications are, in turn, caused by the interaction of the sensing layer with the target analyte molecules present in the environment.
An extensive investigation of the structural and morphological characterizations of the LB-SWCNTs films has been carried out by means of X-ray diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy analyses, High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy observations, which confirmed the nanometric dimensions of the sensitive overlays as well as their successful integration with the optical fibers.
The excellent sensing capabilities of the realized chemical sensors have been demonstrated against VOCs and other pollutants in different environments (air and water) and operating conditions (room temperature and cryogenic temperatures). As matter of fact, ppm and sub-ppm chemicals detection limits have been obtained in most of the investigated cases.
Furthermore, the use of carbon nanotubes-based composites as sensitive fiber optic coatings has also been proposed to improve their adhesion to the fiber surface. The experimental results here shown reveal the strong potentiality of such nanocomposite to be successfully employed for chemical sensing both in liquid and gas phase. In addition, new advanced sensing configurations based on the use of hollow-core optical fibers coated and partially filled by carbon nanotubes have also been presented.


Title: "Silicon Microspheres for THz Sensing Applications in Space"
Authors: Ali Serpengüzel
Koç University, Department of Physics, Microphotonics Research Laboratory, Rumelifeneri Yolu, Sariyer, Istanbul 34450 Turkey
Abstract: Silicon microspheres possess high quality factor morphology-dependent resonances, i.e., whispering gallery modes. These whispering gallery modes can be used in sensing applications in space. In this work, feasibility of a silicon microsphere with a radius of 500 µm as an optical sensor at THz frequencies is studied. The high quality factor morphology dependent resonances have repetitive mode spacing of 1 µm (30 GHz) at wavelengths of 100 µm (3 THz).
 
Mr. Matthias Burkhalter
Assistant Editor
MDPI Center - Sensors Office
Matthaeusstrasse 11 - CH-4057 Basel / Switzerland
E-mail: sensors@mdpi.org
Tel +41 61 683 7734, Fax +41 61 302 8918
http://www.mdpi.org/sensors

MDPI - Matthias Burkhalter - 4 April 2008