In this paper, we proposed a multi-parameter sensing system based on a polarimetric multilongitudinal-mode fiber laser sensor and beat frequency signal interrogation technique. The polarimetric fiber laser consists two fiber Bragg gratings and a piece of Erbium-doped-fiber. Since the linear birefringence exists in any real fiber duo to its core deviating from a circular shape, two types of beat frequency signals exist in the fiber laser: longitudinal mode beat frequency and polarization mode beat frequency signals. They have different sensing characteristic to external perturbations such as temperature or strain change, so the polarimetric fiber laser can distinguish simultaneously the change of strain, temperature and the birefringence change. We theoretically analyzed the principle for measurement of temperature, strain and fiber birefringence, and experimentally studied the sensing performance of temperature, strain and fiber birefringence. The proposed multi-parameter sensing system just consists a polarimetric fiber laser sensor and a beat frequency demodulation equipment, so it shows the advantages of simple structure, portability, high sensitivity, and low cost.
In this paper, a multi-parameter optical fiber system is developed and demonstrated by using a single polarimetric fiber ring laser sensor and beat frequency demodulation technique. The polarimetric fiber ring laser is formed by a fiber Bragg grating, a piece of Erbium doped fiber and a 3 dB fiber coupler. Since the fiber laser cavity is long enough, there are many longitudinal modes in the laser cavity. For each order longitudinal mode, two orthogonal polarization modes will experience slightly mode splitting due to the intrinsic fiber birefringence. As a result, in this polarimetric fiber ring laser, there exists two kinds of beat frequency signals, i.e. longitudinal mode beat frequency and polarization mode beat frequency signals. When the fiber laser cavity suffers from external perturbations, such as temperature change, strain change, and the fiber birefringence change, these two kinds of beat frequency signals will experience different response and can be used to measure multiple parameters simultaneously. We have theoretically analyzed the principle of measurement temperature, strain and fiber birefringence and experimentally measured these parameters in the test. The proposed multi-parameter sensing system just uses a single polarimetric fiber ring laser sensor and one beat frequency demodulation equipment. It will be promising in many application fields due to its advantages of simple structure, portability, high sensitivity, and low cost.
The 16-channel multi-longitudinal mode fiber laser sensor array is investigated experimentally by the wavelength/frequency division multiplexing technique. In the proposed sensing system, a 4×4 sensor array is established by a few different coupling-ratio couplers, and four different fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) with different center wavelengths are used as four different sensing units. In each sensor unit, four parallel fiber laser sensors have the same operating wavelengths FBGs, but their effective laser cavity lengths slightly different from each other. Every cavity is formed by a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) serving as one reflection mirror, a piece of erbium-doped fiber (EDF) acting as the gain medium, and a Faraday rotator mirror (FRM) serving as other reflection mirror. When the pump power is higher than threshold value, the 16-channel fiber laser sensor array is stimulated stably. The frequency of the beat signal of the fiber laser sensor with different cavity lengths is used to realize frequency division multiplexing, and the wavelength division multiplexing is realized according to the operation wavelength of the fiber laser. The beat frequency signals are generated on a photodetector(PD), and monitored by a frequency spectrum analyzer(FSA). By tracking the shift of the beat frequency, all of the 16 laser sensors can be demodulated and real-time discriminated. The result of the experiment shows that different channels can be demodulated independently. The applications of the sensor array for strain and temperature measurements are also investigated. The strain or temperature information can be extracted from the change of the beat frequency signals according to the wavelength-frequency division multiplexing and the beat signal demodulation. The proposed hybrid multiplexing system can greatly reduce the weight, volume, and cost of the fiber laser sensors system while increasing the amount of the sensors multiplexable, which making it very competitive in some applications fields requiring large scale arrays such as space vehicles, marine infrastructure systems and constructional engineering.
We present an in-fiber Mach-Zehnder type interferometer (MZI) in single mode fiber based on lateral offset splicing
technique. The MZI relies on the interference between the fundamental core mode and a co-propagating cladding mode. To build an in-fiber MZI, we need one element or device which excites two co-propagating modes and another one to recombine them. In our case, the excitation and recombination of modes is realized by two cascaded lateral offset splicing joints. The effects of the lateral offset amount, the interferometer cavity length, and the fusion splicing
parameters on the property and performance of the in-fiber MZI were investigated experimentally. By choosing an
appropriate lateral offset amount, the MZIs with good interference fringe contrast and low insertion loss can be
fabricated. Several in-fiber MZIs with different interferometer lengths were built and it is found that the interference
peak wavelength spacing is inversely proportional to the interferometer length L. The potential applications of the
proposed in-fiber MZI were further investigated as strain sensors.
We report a compact in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) made along a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber
(HC-PBF). The MZI uses a long period grating (LPG) and an offset-splice joint (OSJ) which act as beam splitter and
combiner respectively. The LPG was produced by use of a high frequency pulsed CO2 laser, and the OSJ was made in
serial with the LPG by using a commercial fusion splicer. The interference is between the fundamental core mode (FCM)
and a high-order core mode (HOCM). The proposed interferometer was experimentally tested for temperature and strain
measurements, and the sensitivities of the interference fringe dip wavelength to temperature and strain are 107.5 pm/
(°C-m) and -1.24 pm/με, respectively.
A hydrogel coated long period grating (LPG) used as relative humidity sensor is investigated theoretically and
experimentally. It showed a high degree of sensitivity when relative humidity was above 50%RH. For humidity levels
from 50%RH to 72%RH, a wavelength decrease of 15.4 nm is seen, with a sensitivity of 0.66 nm /%RH. For humidity
levels from 72%RH to 98%RH, a wavelength increase of 9.5nm is observed, with a sensitivity of 0.36 nm /%RH. For
humidity levels greater than 65%RH, the transmission loss at resonance increases rapidly, showing a high degree of
sensitivity of 0.53 dB /%RH and offering a high resolution of 0.02%RH. The proposed relative humidity sensor offered
good repeatability and low hysteresis errors, with a standard deviation of 0.005dB/%RH and 0.26% hysteresis error
while RH levels greater than 65%RH during three cycles of increasing and decreasing humidity. The stability test was
also carried out and a standard deviation of 0.14%RH was obtained. In addition, the durability test showed that the
humidity sensor can work at least ten months.
A Mach-Zehnder-like interferometer based on cascaded long period gratings with palladium silver (Pd-Ag) film coating
is developed for monitoring the hydrogen concentration. The visibility of fringes is measured using Fourier analysis. The
basic theory was given and preliminary experiment had been proved that this sensor can used to monitor the hydrogen
concentration. The sensor showed a good response.
The response of transmission spectrum of cascaded long period gratings with hydrogel coating to relative humidity is
investigated experimentally. Two configurations in terms of coated/not coated areas of the cascaded LPGs are explored
to gain a significant enhancement of RH sensitivity. For humidity level greater than 50%RH, the visibility of the
interference fringes is highly sensitive to relative humidity, showing a good linearity. The sensitivities of the two
proposed hydrogel coated cascaded LPGs devices are 7.71 × 10-3/%RH and 7.08 × 10-3/%RH, respectively. RH
accuracies of ± 0.45% and ± 0.32% are achieved, respectively.
In this paper, the characteristics of the LPG with thin film coating are analyzed theoretically by using the optical
couple-mode theory and cylindrical four-layer waveguide model. The influences of the refractive index and thickness of
film overlay on the sensitivity of LPG are analyzed in detail. By choosing properly the thickness and refractive index of
the thin-film overlay, the sensitivity of the LPG can be enhanced significantly. In order to verify the theoretical analysis
and enhance the sensitivity of LPG to humidity, hydrogel is chosen as coating material. The characteristics on the
hydrogel coated long period grating are investigated experimentally. The transmission spectral response of hydrogel
coated LPG to relative humidity is measured. It shows that the resonant wavelength and the amplitude of attenuation
bands are high sensitive to relative humidity when RH is above 50%RH.
Cascaded long period grating with film coating is sensitive to the thickness and refractive index of the film material and
the surrounding refractive index, so it can be used in the applications such as gas sensing, liquid concentration sensing
and bio-sensing. In this paper, the characteristic of cascaded long period grating coating with higher refractive index
nanostructured film overlay is investigated theoretically by using coupled-mode theory and transfer matrix method. The
responses of interference fringe peak wavelength to the thickness and refractive index of the film and the surrounding
refractive index are numerical calculated. The theoretical simulation results show that the minima wavelength of the
interference fringes within the long period gratings attenuation bands are sensitive to the thickness and refractive index
of the film coating and the refractive index of the surrounding environment. By choosing these parameters optimally, the
sensitivity of the peak wavelength shift of the interference fringes can be enhanced. The theoretical analysis can provide
guidance to the application of the nanostructured film coated cascaded long period grating sensor.
An extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) optical fiber hydrogen sensor based on palladium silver (Pd-Ag) film is
designed for hydrogen leakage detection. The sensing mechanism of such a sensor is based on the mechanical stress that
is induced in the Pd-Ag film when it absorbs hydrogen. The sensor system which is portable and suitable for field
detection is formed by a conventional coupler, a low-power LED operating at 850 nm, and a high resolution miniature
spectrometer. To obtain the absolute length of the EFPI air gap, a cross-correlation signal processing method is
introduced.The sensor is suitable for monitoring concentrations of hydrogen below the lower explosive limit.
Optical Kerr effect in the passive ring-resonator optical fiber gyroscope (PORG) made from hollow-core photonic
band-gap (PBG) fiber is analyzed theoretically using a simple optical field overlap method, comparing it with the passive
ring-resonator optical fiber gyroscope made from conventional single mode fiber (SMF). The theoretical evidence show
that optical Kerr effect induced rotation rate shift in PORG made from hollow-core PBG fiber should be reduced by 1~2
orders at different ring resonator length when the optical source spectral width is fixed.
Fiber Bragg grating is simple, intrinsic sensing elements which can be photo-inscribed into a silica fiber. It has many advantages and be useful for a variety of application. In this paper, we reported the experimental results of measuring the three-dimensional thermal expansion coefficients of Beryllium by using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors within a large temperature range between -50°C and +150°C. Three FBG sensors were bonded on the surface of the material in the directions of x, y, z to measure the three-dimensional thermal expansion coefficients and a reference FBG sensor was used to compensate the temperature variation. The experimental results show that it can be used in harsh environment.
In recent years, Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors become a focus in civil structure health monitoring because they have many advantages and show superior potential for health monitoring to ensure their structural integrity, durability and reliability. In this paper, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are used to monitoring the strain of steel structure. A designed novel titanium alloy slice is introduced to package the used FBG. A shallow rectangular groove is notched on the titanium alloy slice. Coated with a thin layer of epoxy, the FBG is fixed and protected on the groove. In order to eliminate to the temperature vibration effect on the wavelength shift of FBG sensors, a FBG temperature sensor is used for compensation. The traditional resistance strain gauges are also used to measure the strain for the comparison with the FBG sensors to validate the effectiveness. The strain of the flat steel at the elastic and yield stage of the steel are measured by monitoring the shift of center wavelength of FBG sensors and the change of the resistance strain gauges. The experimental results show that FBG sensors packaged by titanium alloy slice possess good stain sensing property and the strain sensitivity coefficients are 1.25pm/με. The shifts of center wavelengths of FBG are in good linear relationship with the tensile force and the strain measured by the resistance strain gauge. The linear correlation coefficients both reach 0.999.
In this paper, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are used to monitoring the strain of steel and concrete structure. A designed novel steel slice is introduced to package the used FBG. A shallow rectangular groove is notched on the steel slice. Coated with a thin layer of epoxy, the FBG is fixed and protected on the groove. In order to eliminate to the temperature vibration effect on the wavelength shift of FBG sensors, a FBG temperature sensor is used for temperature compensation. The conventional electrical resistance strain gauges (ERS) are also used to measure the strain for the comparison with the FBG sensors to validate the effectiveness. The experimental shows that the novel FBG stain sensor designed by us can measure the stain of the steel and concrete structure effectively and the results from FBG strain sensor agree well with the results from the resistance strain gauge. The novel FBG strain sensor is simple, smart and fit to use in civil structure health monitoring.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.