High sensitivity micro-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometric temperature sensors with a high index ring layer

The influence of the high index ring layer (HIRL) in a tapered fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) on the interference observed, and thus on its potential applications in temperature sensing, has been investigated. The MZI was comprised of a tapered Ring Core Fiber (RCF), spliced between two single mode fibers (SMF). Since part of core mode from the SMF was converted into cladding modes in the RCF, due to the mismatch in the cores between the RCF and SMF, the residual power enters and then propagates along the center of the RCF (silica). The difference in phase between the radiation travelling along these different paths is separated by the HIRL to generate an interference effect. Compared with fiber interferometers based on core and cladding mode interference, the thin fiber HIRL is capable of separating the high order cladding modes and the silica core mode, under grazing incident conditions. Therefore, the optical path difference (OPD) and the sensitivity are both substantially improved over what is seen in conventional devices, showing their potential for interferometric temperature sensor applications. The optimum temperature sensitivity obtained was 186.6 pm/°C, which is ∼ 11.7 times higher than has been reported previously.