Theory and analysis of phase sensitivity-tunable optical sensor based on total internal reflection

This study presents a theory of a phase sensitivity-tunable optical sensor based on total-internal reflection (TIR). This investigation attempts to design a phase sensitivity-tunable optical sensor consisting of an isosceles right-angle prism, some quarter- and half-wave plates, and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. When the azimuth angles of the quarter-wave plates are chosen properly, the final phase difference of the two interference signals are associated with the azimuth angle of the fast axis of the half-wave plates, thus creating the controllable phase sensitivity. Numerical analysis demonstrates that the high phase measuring sensitivity and the small measuring range, and the low phase measuring sensitivity and the wide measuring range can be performed by selecting the suitable azimuth angle of the half-wave plates. The feasibility of the measuring method was demonstrated by the experiment results. The sensor could be applied in various fields, such as chemical, biological, biochemical sensing, and precision machinery measurement.