Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Based High

Sensitive Water Salinity Sensor For Oceanographic

Applications
Uma Kumari.C.R1, Dhanalakshmi Samiappan2 , T.Rama Rao3, Tata Sudhakar4

#1,#2,#3 Department of ECE, SRM University, Tamil Nadu, India

#4 Scientist & Head of Ocean Electronics Group, National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, India
umakumari.cr@gmail.com ; dhanalakshmi.s@ktr.srmuniv.ac.in ; ramaraotr@gmail.com; tata@niot.res.in

Abstract— A high sensitive Mach-Zehnder Interferometer
(MZI) based fiber optic sensor for the measurement of sea water
salinity has been demonstrated in this research. At first,
femtosecond laser is used as the source and its performance in
sensing salinity of sea water is analyzed. Secondly, a Carbon
monoxide (CO) laser operating in the spectrum of 4.8 to 8.3 ȝm is
used to excite the arms of MZI. It has been observed that
wavelength shifts related to attenuation dips are highly sensitive
to salinity of sea water when CO laser is used as the source. Using
simple and robust schematic design, sensitivity of 0.01ȝm/ppt is
achieved for salinity range of 31 to 37 ppt at a constant
temperature of 27oC. The all-optical MZI salinity sensor
indicated here is easy to fabricate, low cost, highly sensitive and
finds application in the field of oceanography.
Keywords— carbon monoxide laser; femtosecond laser; Mach-
Zehnder Interferometer (MZI); oceanography; salinity sensor
I. INTRODUCTION
Salinity sensor plays a vital role in predicting the
content of dissolved inorganic ions in sea water. Predicting
salinity of sea water is very essential in modeling climatic
changes, aquatic life cycle and in underwater communication.
Traditional methods are based on measuring salinity from
conductivity of sea water [12]. These methods offer bulky and
expensive devices. A main challenge in electrical sensors is
that they are prone to Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI)
which affects the sensitivity of the sensor. Recently, many
fiber optics sensors [1] are being developed to sense
parameters like refractive index [7, 8], temperature [8],
pressure [4], strain and displacement. Techniques based on
fiber Bragg grating [11, 13], photonic crystal fiber [14], high-
birefringence elliptic fiber [16] and microfiber knot/coil
resonators [15] offer sensitivities in the range of 20-250pm/‰
and also have advantage of immunity to EMI. But the hitch in
the above mentioned optical sensors are that they are difficult
to fabricate. To overcome this obstacle, interferometric based
fiber optic sensors are used that can be used in Micro-Opto-
Electro-Mechanical Systems (MOEMS). Optical
interferometric sensors can withstand high temperature (up to
2000 oC) and corrosion. Apart from this, optical sensors are
highly immune to Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI) and
are capable of multiplexing various sensors in MOEMS
domain.
Significant types of interferometric based optical
sensors that have been reported in the literature are Fabry-
Perot (FP) interferometers, Mach-Zehnder Interferometers
(MZI), Michelson Interferometers and Sagnac interferometers.
FP interferometers [3] make use of Polyimide (PI) diaphragm
that shrinks with respect to salinity of water. The PI
diaphragm constriction causes shift in the interference pattern
thus enabling the measurement of salinity with a sensitivity of
0.45nm/ (mol/L). Detection of beam deviation due to the
refractive index change allows remote monitoring of salinity
in sea water [2]. With theoretical description of the model, a
resolution of 0.012%o has been achieved for salinity range of
50 PSU (Practical Salinity Unit). An optical fiber laser salinity
sensor based on multimode interference effect has been
proposed in [5]. Salinity of the liquid was measured from
wavelength shift of the transmission peak. Salinity sensitivity
of 19.4 pm/% has been achieved and the measurement range is
from 3.86% to 21.62%. Absolute salinity of sea water can be
measured using Twin Prism Refractometer [4] technique that
provides output resolution proportional to the change in
refractive index of water. Mathematical modeling of optical
sensors [6] based on traditional refractometer provides user
defined algorithms that can perform software analysis of
sensor’s prototype.
Most recently, MZI based Refractive Index (RI)
measurements have been studied and reported. RI sensors
using micro cavity based MZI sensors [9] have successfully

978-1-5090-3646-2/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

reported a sensitivity of -17503.73 nm/RIU for a RI range of Depth Salinity
1.3371 to 1.3407. The challenge in this technique is creating a (m) (ppt)
smooth micro cavity that requires complicated fabrication 200 33.94
steps. By using tapered thin core fiber [10], RI sensitivity can 250 33.98
be enhanced in the range of 0.447nm for 1% change in typical
RI for a range of 1.333-1.3725. M. A. Mustapa designed 300 34.01
tapered Multimode Fiber Sensor for Salinity Detection [17] 400 34.07
and achieved sensitivity of 0.1705 RIU/M. Single mode 500 34.14
Tapered Optical Fiber [18] can also be used for salinity
600 34.02
sensing that achieves sensitivity of 2834.3 nm/RIU by varying
tapered area waist length. 700 34.26
800 34.31
To the best of our knowledge, no work has been 1000 34.41
reported in sensing salinity of sea water using MZI. Both the
arms of MZI are made of commercially available Single Mode
Fiber (SMF). MZI exhibits additional advantages of high
III. SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM AND SELECTION OF LASER
sensitivity, low cost and ease of fabrication.
SOURCE
II. PROPERTIES OF SEA WATER
A. Schematic Design
Various parameters of sea water [20] are listed in Table I
corresponding to ocean depth range from 0 to 4500m. These
Salinity sensor using MZI is shown in fig (1).
properties are studied in order to select a perfect laser source,
specific interferometer as well as in selecting the type and
length of sensing fiber.

TABLE I. PROPERTIES OF SEA WATER

Parameter Range of values

Specific gravity 1.0233-1.0279
Density 920-1100kg/m3
Temperature 22oC-3oC Fig. 1. Schematic of proposed salinity sensor.
Salinity 31-37 ‰
Both the reference and sensing arms are made with equal
Refractive index 1.3382-1.3408 lengths (6mm) of CORNING SMF-28. SMF helps to prevent
any change in wavelength shift due to phase difference. This is
Thermal conductivity 0.56-0.68 W/m K done because wavelength shift corresponding to concentration
of salinity alone is required. The RI of core of SMF in both the
Salinity of sea water varies with depth of ocean as arms is 1.4324. A 3dB optical splitter splits the laser output
well as with temperature. Table II gives a clear insight equally to the reference and sensing arms. Surrounding
about distribution of salinity in ocean [19]. medium of reference arm is air whereas the sensing arm is
immersed in sea water sample. To view transmission spectrum
TABLE II. SALINITY OF WATER in real time, Optical Spectrum Analyzers (OSA) are connected
to the other end of both SMFs. Throughout this experiment,
Depth Salinity temperature of the sample (sea water) is maintained at 27oC to
(m) (ppt) avoid variation of output with respect to temperature.
0 31.22
B. Selection of Laser Source
10 31.40
20 31.56 In this paper, performance of proposed salinity sensor has
30 31.88 been evaluated using femtosecond laser and CO laser.
Femtosecond laser operates in the spectrum of 700nm to
50 32.40
1600nm. Agilent 86142B OSA operating in wavelength range
75 33.24 of 600-1700 nm with a resolution of 0.06 nm is used to
100 33.60 monitor the transmission spectra. In this case, it has been
150 33.88 observed that attenuation dips with sea water samples are not
clear and hence the corresponding wavelength shift could not varied. This change in RI can be viewed as wavelength shifts
predict effective refractive index of sea water. in the output spectrum. Thorlabs OSA 206 (Optical Spectrum
Analyzer) working in the range of 3.3 - 8.0 μm with a
When sea water samples are replaced with NaCl solutions resolution of 0.1 ppm and an accuracy of ±1 ppm is used to
with high salinity, wavelength shifts are clear and hence view the spectrum. The attenuation dips in wavelength around
prediction of salinity above 39 ppt is possible using 5.05 μm (order 110) is continuously noted down for various
femtosecond laser source. Variation of wavelength shift with samples and are denoted as Ȝm. From this value, effective RI
respect to effective refractive index using femtosecond laser is difference is calculated using Eq. (1)
shown in Table III. From the table, it is obvious that
femtosecond laser source cannot be used to excite arms of ǻneff = [(2m+1) Ȝm] / [2L] (1)
Mach-Zehnder interferometer for the proposed set-up.
Here, m is an integer and L is effective length of the
To make use of femtosecond laser for sea water salinity SMF that is used in the sensing arm (6mm). From ǻneff,
sensing, SMF with micro-cavity (chemical etched) should be effective RI of water sample can be predicted using Eq. (2)
employed.
n eff (water) =1.4324 - ǻneff (2)
TABLE III. CALCULATED SALINITY VALUES FROM WAVELENGTH SHIFT
WITH FEMTOSECOND LASER SOURCE
In Eq. (2), the constant 1.4324 indicates the effective
RI of core of SMF in the sensing arm. Finally, salinity is
Effective obtained [18] from the estimated RI of sea water.
Negative Effective RI of
wavelength RI water
shift difference sample Salinity V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
(nm) (ǻneff) (neff) (ppt)
Spectrum analyzer connected to reference arm shows
0 0.02855 1.4039 40 wavelength shifts corresponding to air medium. These values
9 0.02838 1.4040 41 are compared with spectrum from sensing arm to observe the
shifts with respect to salinity concentration of sea water.
20 0.02818 1.4042 42 Corresponding values are as tabulated in Table IV.
32 0.02796 1.4044 43
43 0.02775 1.4046 44 TABLE IV. CALCULATED SALINITY VALUES FROM WAVELENGTH SHIFT
WITH CO LASER SOURCE

52 0.02759 1.4048 44 Negative Effective Effective

60 0.02744 1.4050 45 wavelength RI RI of sea
shift difference water Salinity
(μm) (ǻneff) (neff) (ppt)
The experiment has been repeated with carbon monoxide 0 0.09372 1.3387 31
(CO) laser that emits light in the range of 4.8-8.3ȝm. Most 0.008 0.09358 1.3388 32
recently, coherent CO laser has been designed and
commercially available for material-processing applications 0.019 0.09337 1.3390 33
such as glass cutting, as well as medical, spectroscopic, and 0.029 0.09319 1.3392 34
research uses. The CO laser is more attractive because it has 0.039 0.09300 1.3394 35
the potential to be two times more efficient than traditional
CO2 lasers. Coherent CO lasers operate at high output powers 0.049 0.09282 1.3396 36
in the 5–6 ȝm range at high efficiencies at room temperature. 0.059 0.09264 1.3398 37
This specific feature of CO laser enables its application in the
field of sensing. In salinity sensing, temperature of water Sensitivity of MZI sensor has been calculated from
sample as well as the testing environment should be slope of the graph in fig. (2) as follows,
maintained constant. In the proposed work, temperature is
maintained at 27oC.

IV. SENSING PRINCIPLE

Due to the presence of NaCl ions in the surrounding

medium of sensing fiber, its effective RI difference gets

Fig. 2. Sea water salinity vs wavelength shift
VI. SENSOR APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE WORK
In oceanography, CTD (Conductivity, Temperature
and Depth) sensors are widely used to predict and analyze
aquatic conditions and also for modeling climatic changes to
retain a biologically balanced environment. MEMS based
sensors are available for the same application. But, as
discussed in the introduction section, electrical counterparts
are bulky and are prone to EMI as well as losses. Hence
optical MEMS technique is employed in this paper. Apart
from marine based applications, these sensors can also be
used in industrial functions for sensing temperature, specific
gravity and density of various samples.
Apart from Mach-Zehnder based interferometer,
salinity sensors based on refractive index method can also
be performed using other two types (i) Michelson
interferometer and (ii) Sagnac interferometer.
VII. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a simple and high sensitive MZI based
sea water salinity sensor has been studied with femtosecond
and CO laser sources. Among all the interferometric
devices, MZI has been selected because it can be easily
fabricated to get a compact MOEMS sensor. Results of both
the cases were analyzed and noticed that exciting arms of
MZI with CO laser provides a high sensitivity of 0.01
ȝm/‰ in the range of 31-37 parts per thousand (‰) at 27
oC . This range of salinity is explicitly applicable for sea
water and hence CO laser can be the best choice for this
application related to naval platforms. Sensitivity of this
sensor can be further improved by varying the lengths of
fiber in sensing and reference arm.
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