Sensitivity-Enhanced Fiber Temperature Sensor Based on Vernier Effect and Dual In-Line Mach–Zehnder Interferometers

Abstract

A highly sensitive fiber temperature sensor based on in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs) and Vernier effect was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The MZI was fabricated by splicing a section of hollow core fiber between two pieces of multimode fiber. The temperature sensitivity obtained by extracting envelope dip shift of the superimposed spectrum reaches to 528.5 pm/°C in the range of 0 °C-100 °C, which is 17.5 times as high as that without enhanced by the Vernier effect. The experimental sensitivity amplification factor is close to the theoretical predication (18.3 times).The proposed sensitivity enhancement system employs parallel connecting to implement the Vernier effect, which possesses the advantages of easy fabrication and high flexibility.