Low coherence technique to interrogate optical sensors based on selectively filled double-core photonic crystal fiber for temperature measurement

In this paper, an optical fiber sensing system based on low coherence interferometry (LCI) is proposed and demonstrated to interrogate sensors comprised of selectively filled double-core photonic crystal fiber (SFDC-PCF). The sensor used here is made by selectively filling about 1/3 area of air holes in the cladding of photonic crystal fiber with distilled water. So the dual-core in the sensor has different effective refractive indices, resulting in a phase delay between two lights transmitting in the fiber. The phase delay of the sensor can be compensated by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a scanning optical tunable delay line in one arm of the interferometer, namely temporal interrogation. By tracking the value of phase delay, the change of the measurand can be detected. Temperature measurement is carried out to testify the system performance. An average sensitivity of 0.9 µm/°C is achieved within the temperature range of 29-92 °C. This work provides a new thinking for fiber sensing technology based on LCI. The proposed all-fiber sensing system, with the merits of cost-effective, stability, and flexibility, can demodulate the SFDC-PCF sensor signals well. Further improvements such as better sensitivity, larger measurement range and multiplexing efficiency can be realized by tailoring the PCF sensor's structure.