Dispersion effects in a highly birefringent fiber laser sensor with fiber Bragg grating reflectors

The effects of dispersion in the highly birefringent fiber Bragg grating reflectors of a polarimetric elliptical-core fiber laser sensor are experimentally and theoretically investigated. The laser sensor is designed to measure fluid pressure. It is experimentally and theoretically shown that the wavelength-dependent phase shifts in the gratings can be employed to remove the near degeneracy of the polarization mode beat frequencies of a given order, which substantially improves the resolution of the sensor. A resolution of a few parts in 10(6) of the free spectral range of the laser is demonstrated.