High sensitivity temperature measurement via mask-free hybrid polymer long period fiber grating

Long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) are useful for environmental sensing under conditions of high corrosiveness and electromagnetic interference. Most LPFGs are fabricated by coherent or high-power UV illumination of an optical fiber under an amplitude mask, resulting in narrow and environmentally-dependent band rejection. We present a hybrid LPFG waveguide fabricated without an amplitude mask through polymer self-assembly under low-power incoherent UV illumination, which demonstrates high-temperature sensitivity in its transmission spectrum compared to LPFG sensors based purely on silica waveguides. A sensitivity of 1.5 nm °C ^-1 is obtained experimentally for attenuation near 1180 nm, and a sensitivity of 4.5 nm °C ^-1 with a low random error was obtained with a composite of attenuation bands. Finite element method simulations and coupling mode theory reveal this to be due to a thermo-optic coefficient one order of magnitude greater than that of fused silica. The device has potential for a simple and inexpensive transmission intensity based temperature sensor consisting of an infrared light source, the LPFG, a bandpass filter, and a photodiode.