The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 17, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 05, 2001
Anthony O'Keefe, Cupertino, CA (US);
James J. Scherer, San Mateo, CA (US);
Los Gatos Research, Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
Chemically specific fiber and waveguide sensors are formed in a fiber optic or optical waveguide material in which injected light is trapped within a Bragg grating optical cavity. The Bragg cavity effectively traps the light for long times, corresponding to effective path lengths equal to hundreds or thousands of meters in the fiber or waveguide medium. The Bragg grating optical cavity is surrounded by a cladding of chemically sensitive material whose optical properties change when exposed to specific chemicals or classes of chemicals. The change in the optical properties of the cladding results in a change in the light trapping characteristics of the fiber or waveguide. Changes in optical transmission of the fiber optic or waveguide sensor can then be related to the concentration of specific chemicals or classes of chemicals in the environment surrounding the sensor.