Optical Fiber Fabry–Perot Humidity Sensor Based on Porous Al2O3 Film

An optical fiber humidity sensor with porous anodic alumina (PAA) film on single-mode fiber tip is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Relative-humidity (RH) sensing is correlated with the shift of interference fringe due to capillary condensation, which results in the change of effective refractive index of PAA film when exposed to different RH environments. Experimental result shows that sensitivity of 0.31 nm/%RH can be realized with very good repeatability in range of 20%RH–90%RH. It can be concluded that fiber-optic RH sensors with PAA film of thinner thickness, smaller aperture size, and aspect ratio would present promising sensing performance.