Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Science and Technology. Section A. Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol.249, 155-161, 1994
Fiber Optic Pressure Measurement with Cholesteric Liquid-Crystals
The paper presents the fiber-optic method for measurement of high hydrostatic pressure applied to a sensing element comprising a cholesteric liquid crystal (ChLC) being connected to multimode optical fibers for communication with a light source and a device for measurement of light intensity. The method exploiting the effect of pressure-induced changes in the wavelength of maximum light reflection observed in ChLCs, and is particularly well adapted for measuring pressure up to 100 MPa with a good linear response and sensitivity for specific ranges of pressure useful in industrial applications. The obtained data indicate that a fiber optic sensing device based on this method has pressure coefficient two orders of magnitude higher than current high-pressure sensors. The paper discusses also possible approaches towards temperature desensitization procedure of the fiber-optic method of pressure measurement.