Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 26, 2025

Hydroquinone Based Synthesis of Gold Nanorods
Published on: August 10, 2016
Spectral characteristics of gold nanoparticle doped optical fibre under axial strain
Xiang Wang1,2, Rinze Benedictus3, Roger M Groves3,4
1Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2629 HS, Delft, The Netherlands. Xiang.Wang@tudelft.nl.
Abstract:
Nanoparticle (NP) doping of optical fibres can be used to increase the intensity of the backscattered light used for distributed strain sensing and has shown the advantages of high precision strain detection and multiplex sensing experimentally. However, the backscatter spectral characteristics of NP-doped optical fibres have not been described even though they are quite different from the spectra from fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) or commercial single mode fibres. In this paper, gold NPs, used as the contrast agent in the optical fibre to increase the intensity of the backscattered light, were investigated from the aspect of their spectra. A single scattering model with Mie theory and an effective refractive index (RI) model were used to evaluate the backscattered light spectra and the Monte Carlo Method was used for seeding NPs. The results showed that the strain responsivity of gold-NP doped fibres with low volume ratio doping (single scattering restriction) are close to FBGs and commercial fibres. High volume ratios of gold NP doping increase the imaginary part of the RI of the optical fibre, which has a significant influence on the spectra in the wavenumber domain. These theoretical insights may promote the future engineering design of NP-doped fibre sensors.
Related Concept Videos
Normal Strain under Axial Loading
Relation between Poisson's ratio, Modulus of Elasticity and Modulus of Rigidity
Strain and Elastic Modulus
Measurements of Strain
Stress-Strain Diagram - Ductile Materials
Elastic Strain Energy for Shearing Stresses

