Temperature-calibrated fiber-optic refractometer based on acompact FBG-SMS structure

A novel all-fiber temperature-calibrated refractometer based on a compact fiber Bragg grating(FBG) single–multi–single(SMS)structure is proposed and experimentally demonstrated.The sensor head is composed of a FBG combined with a SMS structure,in which the middle multimode fiber(MMF)section is etched by a time-controlled hydrofluoric.The transmission dip of SMS is extremely sensitive to ambient refractive index(RI)variation,whereas the upstream FBG provides the necessary temperature information for RI calibration.All aforementioned functions are performed via a compact FBG-SMS structure not longer than 25 mm.The proposed sensing device provides a linear RI sensitivity over water or waterbased solutions(RI values near 1.33 at optical wavelengths for most biological and many environmental applications),and has temperature-calibration capability.Hence,the said refractometer is a good candidate for sensing in chemical and biological applications.