Ocean parameters such as temperature, salinity, and pressure of seawater are important for the study of marine environment and flow field analysis. The traditional method of detecting the temperature, conductivity, and pressure of seawater using CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) device. Currently, CTD measure the temperature of seawater with a sensitivity bit of 0.001 °C. However, due to the limitations of the measurement method, CTD device cannot detect the non-ionic substances (SiO
2, CO
2, and soluble organics) in seawater [
1,
2]. Thus, which leads to deviations in salinity measurement.
Under this circumstance, measuring the refractive index by optical method is an advantageous solution. The refractive index optical measurement is high-sensitive and significance in the analysis of density [
3], pressure [
4,
5], salinity [
6,
7], temperature [
8,
9] and environment of the ocean [
10]. In 2003, Y. Zhao et al. proposed a optical fiber sensor used for remote monitoring of salinity in water. This sensor is based on the detection of beam deviation due to the refractive index changes of the seawater, and salinity can be measured by a PSD. Salinity measurement with a resolution of 0.012 g kg
-1, and the method is applied in a laboratory environment [
11]. In 2009, D. Malardé et al. proposed a compact optical refractometer is named as the NOSS to used measuring the refractive index of seawater. This refractometer is based on the principle of light refraction, and it is developed using V-block optical structure. The prototype is capable of measuring seawater refractive index with a resolution of 4 × 10
−7 RIU, and it has already been applied to the in situ detection of ocean refractive index [
12,
13]. In 2011, Y. C. Kim et al. developed a sensor of refractive index change based on the combination surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The principle of the surface plasma effect between the evanescent wave on the optical fiber surface and the metal film coating. The type of fiber optic SPR sensor used here has a sensitivity of approximately 1600 nm/RIU and there is a refractive index change of 2 × 10
−4 RIU/ppt. With the limit of detection for the smallest shift detectable of the SPR spectrometer employed being 0.04 nm [
14]. This method has already been applied to the detection of ocean salinity. In 2016, Y. Hen et al. designed a sensor based on the modulation principle of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) for broad-spectrum light source, calculated the change of refractive index by wavelength bias. The standard deviation of the measured value of refractive index change is 1.46 × 10
−4 RIU [
15]. In 2018, J. Chen et al. developed a compact refractive index sensor based on total internal reflection (TIR) method with a sampling frequency of 0.1 Hz, and a standard deviation of 4.78 × 10
−6 RIU in measuring results is obtained [
16]. In 2019, H. Uchida et al. developed a state-of-the-art density sensor for seawater measurements with a sampling frequency of 1.2 Hz based on measuring the refractive index by the interference method. The resolution of the density sensor is 0.00006 kg/m
3 for changing temperature at constant salinity and pressure, 0.00012 kg/m
3 for changing salinity at constant temperature and pressure, and 0.00010 kg/m
3 for changing pressure at constant temperature and salinity. This method is suitable for refractive index measurements on marine samples in a laboratory environment [
3]. In 2021, Y. Wang et al. proposed a fiber optic refractive index sensor based on the anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide and mode interference. The refractive index sensitivity of this sensor is 19014.4 nm/RIU [
17]. In 2022, F. Wu et al. design a refractive index sensor based on the dramatic ellipsometric phase change at the long-wavelength band edge in an all-dielectric 1-D PhC. Assisted by the dramatic ellipsometric phase change at the long-wavelength band edge, the minimal resolution of the designed sensor reaches 9.28 × 10
−8 RIU. This refractive index measurement method is suitable for monitoring temperature, humidity, pressure, and concentration of biological analytes in a laboratory environment [
18]. In 2023, G. Li et al. proposed a seawater salinity sensor array based on a micro/nanofiber Bragg grating (MNFBG) structures, the salinity sensitivity for two cascaded sensor arrays is 8.39 pm/‰ and 7.71 pm/‰, while the temperature sensitivity is 8.28 pm/℃ and 8.03 pm/℃. This method is suitable for refractive index measurements on marine samples in a laboratory environment [
19].
According to the existing refractive index measurement requirements, the above refractive index optical measurement methods are compared and analyzed. At present, the sensitivity of salinity measurement based on the detection of beam deviation method is 0.012 g kg-1, equivalent to a seawater refractive index about 2.4 × 10−6 RIU. The refractive index sensitivity of the NOSS is 4 × 10−7 RIU. By calculating, the refractive index sensitivity of the sensor of the SPR is 2.5 × 10−5 RIU, and obtained a measurement result with a standard deviation of 8.3 × 10−6 RIU. By calculating, the refractive index sensitivity of the sensor of the FBG about 10−4 RIU. The refractive index sensitivity of the sensor of the TIR about 10−5 RIU, and obtained a measurement result with a standard deviation of 4.78 × 10−6 RIU. The sensitivity of refractive index measurement based on the interference method is 1.33 × 10−7 RIU, and the standard deviation of the sensor refractive index is 2.93 × 10−8 RIU. The sensitivity of refractive index measurement based on the the anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide and mode interference about 2.1 × 10−6 RIU. The sensitivity of refractive index measurement based on the dramatic ellipsometric phase change at the long-wavelength band edge in an all-dielectric 1-D PhC is 9.28 × 10−8 RIU. The sensitivity of refractive index measurement based on MNFBG about 10−8 RIU.
In this paper, we proposed a method for measuring the refractive index of seawater based on a PSD. Theoretical model is established to depict the correlation between laser spot displacement and refractive index change, utilizing a combination of position sensitive detector and laser beam deflection principle. Based on this optical measurement method, a seawater refractive index measurement system was established. To effectively enhance the sensitivity of refractive index detection, a focusing lens was incorporated into the optical path of the measuring system, and simulations were conducted to investigate the impact of focal length on refractive index sensitivity. The calibration experiment of the measuring system was performed based on the relationship between refractive index of seawater and underwater pressure (depth). By measuring laser spot displacement at different depths, changes in displacement with respect to both refractive index and depth were determined. Experimental results demonstrate that the system exhibits a sensitivity of 9.9277 × 10−9 RIU, the refractive index deviation due to stability is calculated as ±7.545 × 10−9 RIU. Thereby the feasibility of highly sensitive measurement of seawater refractive index is verified.