Optical Fiber-Tip Sensors Based on In-Situ μ-Printed Polymer Suspended-Microbeams

Miniature optical fiber-tip sensors based on directly mu-printed polymer suspended-microbeams are presented. With an in-house optical 3D -printing technology, SU-8 suspended-microbeams are fabricated in situ to form Fabry-Perot (FP) micro-interferometers on the end face of standard single-mode optical fiber. Optical reflection spectra of the fabricated FP micro-interferometers are measured and fast Fourier transform is applied to analyze the cavity of micro-interferometers. The applications of the optical fiber-tip sensors for refractive index (RI) sensing and pressure sensing, which showed 917.3 nm/RIU to RI change and 4.29 nm/MPa to pressure change, respectively, are demonstrated in the experiments. The sensors and their optical mu-printing method unveil a new strategy to integrate complicated microcomponents on optical fibers toward lab-on-fiber' devices and applications.