Selective optical detection of n-heptane/iso-octane vapors by polyimide lightguides

The optical anisotropy of planar polyimide lightguides in an atmosphere of n-heptaneyiso-octane is investigated in a transient experiment for pure and several mixed-vapor concentrations. The polymer sensor responds only to n-heptane and not to iso-octane vapors. However, the presence of the latter affects the dynamic behavior of the waveguide anisotropy, which can be fitted by a stretched exponential time dependence. The saturation values of the birefringence are an absolute measure for the n-heptane concentration and are not affected by the presence of the iso-octane vapors. © 1995, Optical Society of America.