A fast response hydrogen sensor with Pd metallic grating onto a fiber's end-face

Abstract We demonstrated an integrated hydrogen sensor with Pd metallic grating fabricated on a fiber end-face. The grating consists of three thin metal layers in stacks, Au, WO 3 and Pd. The WO 3 is used as a waveguide layer between the Pd and Au layer. The Pd layer is etched by using a focused ion beam (FIB) method, forming a Pd metallic grating with period of 450 nm. The sensor is experimentally exposed to hydrogen gas environment. Changing the concentration from 0% to 4% which is the low explosive limit (LEL), the resonant wavelength measured from the reflection experienced 28.10 nm spectral changes in the visible range. The results demonstrated that the sensor is sensitive for hydrogen detection and it has fast response and low temperature effect.