Colin FITZPATRICK^*, Conor O'DONOGHUE, Elfed LEWIS and Ian GROUT

Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

(Received December 18, 2002; Accepted May 6, 2003)

A fabrication process for distributed multi-point fibre optic sensors based on cladding luminescence is presented. Fibres which have had their cladding removed are coated using a rig which pneumatically dispenses an epoxy phosphor mixture whilst the syringe is being moved axially along the length of the rotating fibre. The new coatings have uniform thickness on the fibre both radially and axially as well as having the same dopant density throughout the coating. A cross-sectional micrograph of a coated fibre is shown as well as the thickness distribution along the fibre.

Key words: optical fibre sensor, cladding luminescence, fibre coating, multi-point sensor

^*Corresponding author. E-mail address: Colin.Fitzpatrick@ul.ie