A proposition of multi-parameter photonic method for nano-liter samples examination of liquids with short sections of optical capillaries

摘要

This paper presents the proposition of a novel multi-parameter method for examination of liquids using optical capillaries. Unlike other well-known fiber optical sensors for liquids that utilize spectral information of the index of refraction and optical signal attenuation, the proposed method takes advantage of additional information originating from surface tension, viscosity, boiling point, vapor pressure of liquid and its heat capacity. In the proposed configuration with short sections of capillary of an inner diameter up to 300μm, the capillary effects enable hydrophilic liquid sampling without using an additional pump. The results obtained by us show that optical capillary tubing can be used as sensing elements in multi-parameter photonic sensors of small liquid samples with volume below 10~(-8)cm~3.