Enhancing Sensing Capabilities: Fabrication of Tapered Optical Fiber Sensors in Fluoride Glasses

This manuscript is focused on the fabrication of tapered optical fibers based on fluoride glass, which is emerging as an efficient and novel material for the development of accurate sensing platform. Usually, tapered sensors have the advantage that the evanescent wave of the propagating mode is affected by the surrounding environment. In this context, the use of a glass that is transparent in the 'fingerprint region' of many contaminant and biological molecules is extremely attractive. The fabrication of evanescent wave spectroscopy, modal interferometry, and long period grating sensors based on fluoride optical fibers via commercial glass processing system is here successfully demonstrated.