Review of luminescent based fibre optic temperature sensors

Purpose - There are various temperature measuring systems presented in the literature and on the market today. Over the past number of years a range of luminescent-based optical fibre sensors have been reported and developed which include fluorescence and optical scattering. These temperature sensors incorporate materials that emit wavelength shifted light when excited by an optical source. The majority of commercially available systems are based on fluorescent properties.Design/methodology/approach - Many published journal articles and conference papers were investigated and existing temperature sensors in the market were examined.Findings - In optical thermometry, the light is used to carry temperature information. In many cases optical fibres are used to transmit and receive this light. Optical fibres are immune to electromagnetic interference and are small in size, which allows them to make very localized measurements. A temperature sensitive material forms a sensor and the subsequent optical data are transmitted via optical fibres to electronic detection systems. Two keys areas were investigated namely fluorescence based temperature sensors and temperature sensors involving optical scattering.Originality/value - An overview of optical fibre temperature sensors based on luminescence is presented. This review provides a summary of optical temperature sensors, old and new which exist in today's world of sensing.