I-Corps: Translation potential of harsh environment sensing by guiding light within crystalline sapphire fibers

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛影响是开发了一项关键技术，使其能够在各种工业应用的恶劣环境中进行光学传感。该技术可以为航空航天、核能和电力行业提供先进的传感能力，用于潜在故障的早期预警、更好地控制燃料/能源效率、减少碳和有毒排放，以及设计和测试新一代内燃机/发电厂和核反应堆。这些区域代表着极端高温、化学腐蚀和辐射的恶劣条件下不允许使用现有传感技术的环境。此外，该解决方案可用于其他应用中所需的高功率激光传输，如基于激光的添加剂制造和医疗手术。这个i-Corps项目利用经验学习和对行业生态系统的第一手调查来评估该技术的翻译潜力。该解决方案的基础是开发一种方法，在蓝宝石光纤中创建用于光传输的嵌入式包层结构，蓝宝石光纤是极端条件下光学传感的高化学和热稳定性平台。长期以来，由于缺乏能够导光的蓝宝石光纤包层，蓝宝石光纤在恶劣条件下的传感应用一直受到大量光学损失的阻碍。这种蓝宝石光纤技术利用离子注入形成纳米级的空洞，有效地降低了蓝宝石晶体的折射率，允许在离子注入区域下方的光纤芯中高效地引导光信号。这种覆层结构热稳定，不受周围环境条件的影响，因此在引导和传输光学信号以在恶劣环境中实时遥感方面具有卓越的性能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this I-Corps project is the development of a critical technology to enable optical sensing in harsh environments in a variety of industrial applications. The technology can provide aerospace, nuclear, and electric power industries with advanced sensing capabilities for early warning of potential failures, better control of fuel/energy efficiency, reduction of carbon and toxic emissions, and design and testing of new-generation combustion engines/power plants and nuclear reactors. These areas represent environments where harsh conditions of extremely high temperature, chemical corrosion, and radiation do not permit the use of existing sensing technologies. In addition, this solution can be useful for high-power laser delivery needed in other applications like laser-based additive manufacturing and medical surgery.This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of the technology. This solution is based on the development of a method to create embedded cladding structures for light propagation within sapphire fibers, a platform of high chemical and thermal stability for optics sensing in extreme conditions. The implementation of sapphire fibers in harsh-condition sensing has long been hampered by substantial optical losses due to the lack of sapphire fiber claddings capable of light guiding. This sapphire fiber technology makes use of ion implantation for formation of nanoscale voids that effectively reduce the refractive index of the sapphire crystals, allowing for light signal guiding at a high efficiency in the fiber core below the ion implanted region. Such cladding structures are thermally stable and immune to ambient conditions, thus promising exceptional performance in guiding and transmitting optical signals for real-time remote sensing in harsh environments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.