Highly sensitive liquid-level sensor based on dual-wavelength double-ring fiber laser assisted by beat frequency interrogation

Abstract

A highly sensitive liquid-level sensor based on dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode fiber laser is proposed and demonstrated. The laser is formed by exploiting two parallel arranged phase-shift fiber Bragg gratings (ps-FBGs), acting as ultra-narrow bandwidth filters, into a double-ring resonators. By beating the dual-wavelength lasing output, a stable microwave signal with frequency stability better than 5 MHz is obtained. The generated beat frequency varies with the change of dual-wavelength spacing. Based on this characteristic, with one ps-FBG serving as the sensing element and the other one acting as the reference element, a highly sensitive liquid level sensor is realized by monitoring the beat frequency shift of the laser. The sensor head is directly bonded to a float which can transfer buoyancy into axial strain on the fiber without introducing other elastic elements. The experimental results show that an ultra-high liquid-level sensitivity of 2.12 × 10(7) MHz/m within the measurement range of 1.5 mm is achieved. The sensor presents multiple merits including ultra-high sensitivity, thermal insensitive, good reliability and stability.