Multiplexing of PVA-coated multimode-fiber taper humidity sensors

A simple multiplexing method for relative humidity (RH) sensors based on multimode-fiber tapers (MFTs) is proposed and demonstrated. By cascading a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) coated MFT with every channel of an Arrayed-Waveguide Grating (AWG), multipoint RH measurement is achieved. Experimental results show that the proposed multipoint RH sensor system works well. The output power for every sensor head is almost linearly increased with the RH, and the average sensitivity of the proposed sensor is about 0.23 nW/%RH within the measurement range of 35%RH–90%RH with the taper waist diameter of ∼22 μm.