High Sensitivity Machzehnder Interferometer Sensors Based on Concatenated Ultra-Abrupt Tapers on Thinned Fibers

Editor(s)

Cusano, A.

Abstract

This study proposes a simple, cost-effective method to fabricate fiber-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) sensors by concatenating two ultra-abrupt fiber tapers together using a fusion splicer. By concatenating, the taper diameter and length ratio is 1:1 that is much greater than that (1:10) by stretching. The refractive index sensitivity is comparable to the MZI sensors based on long-period fiber grating pairs or stretched fiber taper pairs. The MZI fiber claddings are etched to improve the sensitivity of refractive index measurements. The sensitivity is 664.57 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) for the refractive index ranging from 1.3348 to 1.3558, which is 2-6 times greater than those measured by long period fiber gratings (LPFGs) after sensitivity enhancement.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Mach-Zehnder Interferometer; Refractive Index Sensor; Fiber Taper

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2012 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2012

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