The Spectrum of a Bent Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometer under Small Variations of the Refractive Index of the Environment

Abstract:

The phase of light propagating through a bent optical fibre is shown to depend on the refractive index of the medium surrounding the fibre cladding when there is resonance coupling between the guided core mode and cladding modes. This shifts the spectral maxima in the bent fibre-optic Fabry–Perot interferometer. The highest phase and spectral sensitivities achieved with this interferometer configuration are 0,71 and 0,077, respectively, and enable changes in the refractive index of the ambient medium down to 5∙10–6 to be detected. This makes the proposed approach potentially attractive for producing highly stable, precision refractive index sensors capable of solving a wide range of liquid refractometry problems.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 677)
• Pages: 363-367
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.677.363
• Online since: March 2013
• Authors: Yuri N. Kulchin, Oleg B. Vitrik, Stanislav O. Gurbatov
• Keywords: Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometer, Precision Refractometry of Liquids, Resonance Coupling of Guided Modes, Single-Mode Optical Fibre

References

[1] Born, M., Wolf, E., [Principles of Optics, 7th ed. ], Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (2005).

[2] Ioffe, B.V., [Refractometric Methods in Chemistry, 3rd ed. ], Leningrad: Khimiya, (1983).

[3] Homola, J., Yee, S.S., Gauglitz, G., Surface plasmon resonance sensors: review, Sens. Actuators B 54, 3-15 (1999).

DOI: 10.1016/s0925-4005(98)00321-9

[4] Kuzyk, M.G., [Polymer Fiber Optics: Materials, Physics, and Applications], Boca Raton: CRC Press, (2006).

[5] Liang, W., Huang, Y.Y., Xu, Y., Lee R.K., Yariv A., Highly sensitive fiber Bragg grating refractive index sensors, Appl. Phys. Lett., 86, 151122 (2005).

DOI: 10.1063/1.1904716

[6] Villatoro, J., Monzón-Hernández, D. J., Low-cost optical fiber refractive-index sensor based on core diameter mismatch, Lightwave Technol., 24, 1409-1413 (2006).

DOI: 10.1109/jlt.2005.863246

[7] Lu, P., Men, L., Sooley, K., Chen, Q., Tapered fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer for simultaneous measurement of refractive index and temperature, Appl. Phys. Lett., 94, 131110 (2009).

DOI: 10.1063/1.3115029

[8] Wei, T., Han, Y., Li, Y., Tsai, H. -L., Xiao, H., Temperature-insensitive miniaturized fiber inline Fabry-Perot interferometer for highly sensitive refractive index measurement, Opt. Express, 16, 5764-5769 (2008).

DOI: 10.1364/oe.16.005764

[9] Vasil'ev, S.A., Dianov, E.M., Kurkov, A.S., Photoinduced in-fibre refractive-index gratings for core-cladding mode coupling, Quantum Electron., 27, 146 (1997).

DOI: 10.1070/qe1997v027n02abeh000893

[10] Wang, P., Semenova, Yu., Wu, Q., Farrell, G., Ti, Yu., Zheng, J., Macrobending single-mode fiber-based refractometer, Appl. Opt., 48, 31 (2009).

DOI: 10.1364/ao.48.006044

[11] Faustini, L., Martini, G.J., Bend loss in single-mode fibers, Lightwave Technol., 15, 671 (1997).

DOI: 10.1109/50.566689