Fiber-Optic Liquid Crystalline High-Sensitivity Temperature Sensor

Abstract

The microsensor for measuring temperature with high sensitivity presented here contains liquid crystalline layers obtained by the dispersion of cholesteric liquid crystals in a polymer matrix and placed in the end of the fiber-optic head. Due to its double-source construction and the advanced technology employed in liquid crystal sample preparation, the sensor is able to measure temperature at low range with the high sensitivity up to 0.01 K, simultaneously overcoming persistent problems of classical cholesteric liquid crystals such as chemical and photochemical instabilities which caused significant drift.