Towards label-free distributed fiber hydrogen sensor with stimulated Raman spectroscopy

Hydrogen detection is of great importance in chemical and energy industries. Optical fiber hydrogen sensors show flexibility and compactness, and have the potential for distributed analysis. However, traditional fiber sensors encounter a challenge with light interacting with hydrogen directly because hydrogen only displays weak quadrupole absorption, and metallic palladium and platinum thin-film coatings are typically used as an optically detectable label. Here, based on stimulated Raman spectroscopy in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers, we investigate the label-free optical fiber distributed hydrogen sensors operating in the optical telecommunication band. The approach of distributed Raman measurement represents a new paradigm in fiber sensors, potentially allowing distributed chemical analysis in gas or liquid phase with high sensitivity and selectivity.