Dumbbell shaped inline Mach-Zehnder interferometer for sensor applications

作者：Lokman A; Irawati N; Arof H^*; Harun S W; Ali N M

来源：Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials-Rapid Communications, 2014, 8(5-6): 395-398.

• Microfiber
• Flame Brushing Technique
• Inline Mach-Zehnder Interferometer
• Fiber Sensor
• Hydroxyethylcellulose/Polyvinylidenefluoride (HEC/PVDF)

A compact dumbbell-shaped inline Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed for sensing temperature, refractive index and relative humidity (RH). The MZI sensor consists of two bulges separated by a tapered waist and was fabricated using an arcing process by a fusion splicer. The fabricated MZI shows a good reflected interference spectrum where the free spectral range depends on the length of the tapered waist connecting the two dumbbells. At the tapered waist length of 0.5 cm, the reflected spectrum is observed to be responding to the change in the temperature of the surrounding medium with a sensitivity coefficient of 0.049 nm/degrees C. It is also found that when the refractive index of the surrounding medium increases from 1.00 to 1.36 the reflected interference spectrum of the sensor is blue-shifted linearly. Finally, the MZI sensor is coated with hydroxyethylcellulose/ polyvinylidenefluoride (HEC/PVDF) composite and the effect of changes in relative humidity to its interference spectrum is examined. It is observed that as the RH of the ambience increases, the interference wavelength of the sensor linearly shifts to longer wavelength with a sensitivity of 0.159 nm/RH%.

• 出版日期2014-6