Refractive index measurement based on fiber Bragg grating connected with a multimode fiber core

A novel fiber refractive index sensor based on a fiber-Bragg grating (FBG) connected with a section of multimode fiber core (MMFC) is proposed and demonstrated. The MMFC excites high-order modes to form modal interference, and the core mode reflected by the FBG is sensitive to the surrounding refractive index (SRI) for the power of the core mode within MMFC is dependent on SRI. Measuring the reflective power variation of the core mode could realize the refractive index (RI) detection. Experimental results show that the core mode of FBG has a linear response to RI with enhanced sensitivity of 193.55 dB/RIU in the RI range of 1.3350-1.4042 RIU. The temperature effect of the sensor is also discussed.