Intrinsic doped fluorescence decay-time based measurements - Strain and temperature characteristics for sensor purposes

With current research in "smart'' structures driving interest in the development of intrinsic (in-fiber) sensors for simultaneous strain and temperature monitoring, a new sensor approach is presented. In this, the fluorescence decay-time technique, which is familiar as a method of temperature monitoring with a range of materials is extended to investigate the strain sensitivity of an important temperature probe using Nd-doped fiber, in both single and multimode form. For these fibers, strain and temperature sensitivities are presented, "stress annealing'' effects are investigated and the potential for compact, multiparameter intrinsic sensors using Nd-doped fiber is discussed. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(98)00612-1].