Continuous spatial field confocal thermometry using lanthanide doped tellurite glass

Quantifying temperature variations at the micron scale can provide new opportunities in optical sensing. In this paper, we present a novel approach using the temperature-dependent variations in fluorescence of rare-earth doped tellurite glass to provide a micron-scale image of temperature variations over a 200 micrometre field of view. We demonstrate the system by monitoring the evaporation of a water droplet and report a net temperature change of 7.04 K with a sensitivity of at least 0.12 K. These results establish the practicality of this confocal-based approach to provide high-resolution marker-free optical temperature sensing.