Parallel-Integrated Sapphire Fiber Bragg Gratings Probe Sensor for High Temperature Sensing

Abstract

This paper reports the fabrication of parallel integrated sapphire fiber Bragg gratings (SFBGs) probe sensor by the femtosecond laser point by point (PbP) method. The SFBGs probe sensor transmits optical signals through quartz multimode fiber, and takes an 8.5 mm sapphire fiber as the sensing probe, which can work stably for a long time at 1200 °C. This method can not only quickly prepare and obtain SFBGs with small bandwidth, but also obtain gratings with high reflectivity, which is about 15%. The mode field distribution in sapphire fibers with different lengths is studied by the beam quality analyzer. High-order modes are easily excited as the length of sapphire fibers increases. In addition, a spherical lens is prepared at the end of sapphire fiber, which effectively improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to 22 dB. The good spectral quality can still be maintained after holding at 1200 °C for 24 hours, and the temperature sensitivity can reach 30.19 pm/°C in the high temperature range, which is more than 2 times higher than that of quartz FBGs sensors. This parallel integrated SFBGs probe sensor overcomes the problems of doped quartz fiber element diffusion at high temperature and the instability of microstructure caused by material softening, and can be developed for long-term stable operation at 1200 °C high temperature and harsh environments.