Simultaneous measurement of refractive index, temperature and strain based on core diameter mismatch and polarization-maintaining FBG

Abstract

A kind of fiber-optic sensor for simultaneous measurement of refractive index of surrounding medium, temperature and strain is described. Based on core diameter mismatch, a multimode-single mode-multimode (MSM) structure is presented. It is demonstrated that the three parameters can be measured respectively by the interference of the core mode and cladding modes excited in the single mode fiber (SMF). Then combined with a polarization-maintaining fiber Bragg grating (PMFBG) which has different sensing properties from MSM structure, three parameters are measured simultaneously. The experimental results show that PMFBG is insensitive to the refractive index and the refractive index sensitivity of the MSM structure is 96.04 nm·RIU−1; the temperature sensitivities of the characteristic wavelength for MSM structure and the center wavelengths of fast and slow axes for PMFBG are 0.0911 nm · °C−1, 0.00976 nm · °C−1 and 0.0105 nm · °C−1, respectively; the strain sensitivities of those are −0.013 nm · μɛ−1, 0.012 nm · μɛ−1 and 0.012 nm · μɛ−1, respectively.