Photonics (Sep 2022)

Fiber-Optic Axial-Strain Sensor with Sensitivity Enhancement and Temperature Compensation

  • Xiaotong Yang,
  • Chuanxu Liu,
  • Jiuru Yang,
  • Dexue Sun,
  • Lingling Ran

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics9100709
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 10
p. 709

Abstract

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In this paper, we report a tapered thin-core fiber based in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer to improve the response of axial-strain. With the varied diameters of taper waist, the light field distributions are studied by beam propagation method, and the structures are fabricated by arc-discharged lateral offset splicing and tapering techniques. The comprehensive tests are then conducted and compared in terms of axial-strain and temperature. The experimental results show that, by reducing the diameter of taper waist, more than 400% enhancement of wavelength sensitivity can be gained, and the maximum reaches 4.07 pm/µε with the measured error of 3.6%. Moreover, owing to high consistency of temperature response, the near-zero crosstalk is presented by differential compensation method. Furthermore, owing to the merit of high repeatability and stability, our sensor is very practical and promising in the high-precision measurement and engineering monitoring.

Keywords