Dual-point reflective refractometer based on parallel no-core fiber/FBG structure

Abstract

Abstract A novel dual-point reflective fiber-optic refractometer based on multimode interference (MMI) effect and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) reflection is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which adopts parallel structure. Each point of the refractometer consists of a single mode-no core-single mode fiber (SNS) structure cascaded with a FBG. Assisted by the reflection of FBG, refractive index (RI) measurement can be achieved by monitoring the peak power variation of the reflected FBG spectrum. By selecting different length of the no core fiber and center wavelength of the FBG, independent dual-point refractometer is easily realized. Experiment results show that the refractometer has a nonlinear relationship between the surrounding refractive index (SRI) and the peak power of the reflected FBG spectrum in the RI range of 1.3330–1.4086. Linear relationship can be approximately obtained by dividing the measuring range into 1.3330–1.3611 and 1.3764–1.4086. In the RI range of 1.3764–1.4086, the two sensing points have higher RI sensitivities of 319.34 dB/RIU and 211.84 dB/RIU, respectively.