A Compact Optical Fiber Sagnac Loop Inserting With A Nematic Liquid Crystal Film for Highly Sensitive Temperature Sensing

Abstract

Since the high temperature response characteristics of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) molecules, a compact optical fiber Sagnac loop inserted a segment of NLC film for temperature sensing was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The NLC film was formed by filling into the micron-scale gap between the two single-mode fibers inserted into a ferrule matching sleeve. After two single-mode patch cables were rotated, the NLC film molecules were oriented due to exogenous effects. Experimental results showed that the temperature sensing performance of the designed sensor was improved by decreasing the thickness of NLC film in Sagnac loop. The thickness of NLC film in the ferrule matching sleeve was measured accurately by Fabry-Perot interference. The wide temperature measurement range of 2.2 ∼ 50.2°C and a high temperature sensitivity of -9.34 nm/°C were achieved at the NLC film thickness of 31.30 μm. Owing to the compact structure, large measurement range, and high sensitivity, the designed sensor shows a broad application prospect in high spatial resolution and high sensitivity temperature sensing.