Bending effect on light propagation in an optical fiber: Application to a temperature sensor

Abstract

Curvature of a multimode optical fiber reduces the number of modes propagating through the fiber and thus the light power at the fiber output. In this paper we study this phenomenon and use it to make a new intrinsic temperature sensor, which operates by a local refractive index variation of the constituent material as a function of both temperature and curvature. The sensing effect comes from an organized competition between a predetermined strain obtained by bending the fiber with a known bending radius and a temperature-indiced strain that will modulate the waveguide. This sensor measures to an accuracy of 0°1⋅C.