Gas sensing with suspended core fibres and hollow core band gap fibres: a comparative study

The usability, advantages and limitations of suspended core fibres and hollow core band gap fibres for gas sensing in the NIR will be discussed and demonstrated. Suspended core fibres of various geometries and hollow core photonic band gap fibres with different transmission properties have been investigated with respect to their relative sensitivity and their usable spectral bandwidth, using combustion gases as test substances. It has been found that, despite of the more than an order lower sensitivity of suspended core fibers, both kinds of fibre may found use in different practical gas sensing applications.