Polarization Maintaining Photonic Crystal Fiber sensor embedded in carbon composite for structural health monitoring

Use of Polarization Maintaining Photonic Crystal Fiber (PMPCF) for structural health monitoring (SHM) of composites has been proposed and demonstrated for accurate strain measurement with very negligible temperature sensitivity. Further, this newly proposed sensor has been compared with the conventional Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor used for SHM. It is established that the embedded PMPCF in carbon composite is the better choice with enhanced strain sensitivity and less temperature sensitivity compared to the embedded FBG sensor.