Vapor zone velocities measurement using a capillary optical fiber sensor with an application to gas chromatography

A fiber optic sensor has been used for real-time measurement of the migration rates of all the compounds in a mixture separated by gas chromatography. The sensor makes use of a coated capillary optical fiber as the column. This new type of waveguide consists in a polarization-maintaining optical core positioned close to the capillary edge along the entire fiber length. The optical detection is performed through the coupling of the two polarization modes of the waveguide and this coupling is detected by a polarimetric interferometry technique. Through some signal processing, the resulting interferogram provides the migration rates of the various compounds of a gas mixture flowing in the capillary. One of the major benefits of this optical migration rate sensing is that the detection of each velocity peak appears as soon as the analyte enters the capillary fiber and the peaks are constantly measured during the whole separation process. Carrier gas acceleration occurring in the column is plainly demonstrated. This paper presents a proof-of-concept on a qualitative basis. The experiments were done at 29 °C because the current opto-fluidic set-up cannot withstand a higher temperature.