Advances in Fiber-Optic Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometric Physical and Mechanical Sensors: A Review

Fabry-Perot Interferometers Have Found a Multitude of Scientific and Industrial Applications Ranging from Gravitational Wave Detection, High-Resolution Spectroscopy, and Optical Filters to Quantum Optomechanics. Integrated with Optical Fiber Waveguide Technology, the Fiber-Optic Fabry-Perot Interferometers Have Emerged as a Unique Candidate for High-Sensitivity Sensing and Have Undergone Tremendous Growth and Advancement in the Past Two Decades with their Successful Applications in an Expansive Range of Fields. the Extrinsic Cavity-Based Devices, I.e., the Fiber-Optic Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometers (EFPIs), Enable Great Flexibility in the Design of the Sensitive Fabry-Perot Cavity Combined with State-Of-The-Art Micromachining and Conventional Mechanical Fabrication, Leading to the Development of a Diverse Array of EFPI Sensors Targeting at Different Physical Quantities. Here, We Summarize the Recent Progress of Fiber-Optic EFPI Sensors, Providing an overview of Different Physical and Mechanical Sensors based on the Fabry-Perot Interferometer Principle, with a Special Focus on Displacement-Related Quantities, Such as Strain, Force, Tilt, Vibration and Acceleration, Pressure, and Acoustic. the Working Principle and Signal Demodulation Methods Are Shown in Brief. Perspectives on Further Advancement of EFPI Sensing Technologies Are Also Discussed

Development of a multi-point temperature fiber sensor based on a serial array of optical fiber interferometers

M.Ing. (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)An experimental study of a multi-point optic fibre sensor for monitoring temperature changes is presented. The multi-point optic fibre sensor is made of a serial array of weak-reflectivity identical gratings. The weak-reflectivity identical gratings form the interferometric cavities UV printed on the single mode fibre. The ability to measure temperatures changes at different cavities along the serial array is particularly interesting for the monitoring of power transformers, high temperature furnaces and jet engines. Changes in temperature in each respective cavity is measured based on the spectral shift in the phase of the light from each respective cavity. The performance of the multi-point fibre sensor system is evaluated. Further, a theoretical and experimental investigation of a serial array composed of two cavities of different lengths is conducted. This investigation is aimed at measuring the impact of the overlap of the two distinct cavities in their respective frequency domain and determining the accuracy of the measurement. The result found shows that the sensor phase response is no more linear to temperature changes. It is also found that the nonlinear response of the sensor to temperature changes increases with the magnitude of the overlap

Low-Pressure Measurement using an Extrinsic Fiber-Based Fabry-Perot Interferometer for Industrial Applications

The development of an extrinsic fiber-based Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFFPI) for low-pressure measurement in the industry applications has been studied in this work. Monochromatic light from a laser diode with a wavelength of 1310 nm is operated as a source for illuminating the EFFPI sensor. A 30 mm diameter PVC pipe is utilized as a target, of which one end is sealed with a rubber balloon and the end is connected to the air pressure flow controlling system. Furthermore, the center point of the balloon is secured with a reflective thin film, which has a reflectance of ~55%. For the performance validation of the fiber sensor, a low-pressure range from 5 to 50 mBar is released onto the target. With 12 rounds repeatability, the experimental results reported that the average measured pressure values from the EFFPI sensor are 4.915 – 50.988 mBar. When compared to the reference instrument, the maximum and average errors in percentage terms are, however, 3.77% and 1.45%, respectively. In addition, results showed that the measured pressure value is directly proportional to the number of interference fringes, giving a sensitivity in the pressure measurement of the EFFPI sensor of 0.248 mBar/fringe

An Embeddable Strain Sensor with 30 Nano-Strain Resolution based on Optical Interferometry

A cost-effective, robust and embeddable optical interferometric strain sensor with nanoscale strain resolution is presented in this paper. The sensor consists of an optical fiber, a quartz rod with one end coated with a thin gold layer, and two metal shells employed to transfer the strain and orient and protect the optical fiber and the quartz rod. The optical fiber endface, combining with the gold-coated surface, forms an extrinsic Fabry—Perot interferometer. The sensor was firstly calibrated, and the result showed that our prototype sensor could provide a measurement resolution of 30 nano-strain (nε) and a sensitivity of 10.01 µε/ µm over a range of 1000 µε. After calibration of the sensor, the shrinkage strain of a cubic brick of mortar in real time during the drying process was monitored. The strain sensor was compared with a commercial linear variable displacement transducer, and the comparison results in four weeks demonstrated that our sensor had much higher measurement resolution and gained more detailed and useful information. Due to the advantages of the extremely simple, robust and cost-effective configuration, it is believed that the sensor is significantly beneficial to practical applications, especially for structural health monitoring

Fiber-optic and coaxial-cable extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometers for sensing applications

”The fiber-optic extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) is one of the simplest sensing configurations and is widely used in various applications due to its prominent features, such as high sensitivity, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and remote operation capability. In this research, a novel one-dimensional wide-range displacement sensor and a three-dimensional displacement sensor based on fiber-optic EFPIs are demonstrated. These two robust and easy-to-manufacture sensors expand the application scope of the fiber-optic EFPI sensor devices, and have great potential in structural health monitoring, the construction industry, oil well monitoring, and geo-technology. Furthermore, inspired by the fiber-optic EFPI, a novel and universal ultra-sensitive microwave sensing platform based on an open-ended hollow coaxial cable resonator (OE-HCCR, i.e., the coaxial cable EFPI) is developed. Both the theoretical predictions and experimental results demonstrate the ultra-high sensitivity of the OE-HCCR device to variations of the gap distance between the endface of the coaxial cable and an external metal plate. Additionally, combining the chemical-specific adsorption properties of metal-organic framework (MOF) materials with the dielectric sensitivity of the OE-HCCR, a mechanically robust and portable gas sensor device (OE-HCCR-MOF) with high chemical selectivity and sensitivity is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Due to its low cost, high sensitivity, all-metal structure, robustness, and ease of signal demodulation, it is envisioned that the proposed OE-HCCR device will advance EFPI sensing technologies, revolutionize the sensing field, and enable many important sensing applications that take place in harsh environments”--Abstract, page iv

Twin-Grating Fiber Optic Sensors Applied on Wavelength- Division Multiplexing and Its Numerical Resolution

In this work, the twin-grating fiber optic sensor has been applied on wavelength-division multiplexing. A quasi-distributed sensor formed by three local twin-grating sensors, is numerically simulated. The wavelength channels were 1531.5, 1535.5, and 1539.5 nm. The numerical simulation shows the resolution vs. signal-to-noise rate. Three local twin-grating sensors have approximately the same resolution because all local sensors have the same cavity length and the wavelength channels are very close. All local sensors have two numerical resolutions because the Fourier domain phase analysis algorithm makes two evaluations of the Bragg wavelength shift. The transition between both resolutions can be calculated with the parameters: cavity length, Bragg wavelength channel, refraction index, and enveloped resolution. This transition depends on the noise system, demodulation algorithm, instrumentation, and local sensor properties. A very important point is, a theoretical analysis will permit to know the exact resolution for each local twin-grating sensor

Acoustic emission detection using optical fibre sensors for aerospace applications

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) ensures the structural health and safety of critical structures covering a wide range of application areas. This thesis presents novel, low-cost and good-performance fibre Bragg grating (FBG) based systems for detection of Acoustic Emission (AE) in aircraft structures, which is a part of SHM. Importantly a key aim, during the design of these systems, was to produce systems that were sufficiently small to install in an aircraft for lifetime monitoring. Two important techniques for monitoring high frequency AE that were developed as a part of this research were, Quadrature recombination technique and Active tracking technique. Active tracking technique was used extensively and was further developed to overcome the limitations that were observed while testing it at several test facilities and with different optical fibre sensors. This system was able to eliminate any low frequency spectrum shift due to environmental perturbation and keeps the sensor always working at optimum operation point. This is highly desirable in harsh industrial and operationally active environments. Experimental work carried out in the laboratory has proved that such systems can be used for high frequency detection and have capability to detect up to 600 kHz. However, the range of frequency depends upon the requirement and design of the interrogation system as the system can be altered accordingly for different applications. Several optical fibre configurations for wavelength detection were designed during the course of this work along with industrial partners. Fibre Bragg grating Fabry-Perot (FBG-FP) sensors have shown higher sensitivity and usability than the uniform FBGs to be used with such system. This was shown experimentally. The author is certain that further research will lead to development of a commercially marketable product and the use of active tracking systems can be extended in areas of healthcare, civil infrastructure monitoring etc. where it can be deployed. Finally, the AE detection system has been developed to aerospace requirements and was tested at NDT & Testing Technology test facility based at Airbus, Filton, UK on A350 testing panels

Photonic Crystal Fiber–Based Interferometric Sensors

Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs), also known as microstructured optical fibers, are a highlighted invention of optical fiber technology which have unveiled a new domain of manipulating light in engineered fiber waveguides with unparalleled flexibility and controllability. Since the report of the first fabricated PCF in 1996, research in PCFs has resulted in numerous explorations, development and commercialization of PCF-based technologies and applications. PCFs contain axially aligned air channels which provide a large degree of freedom in design to achieve a variety of peculiar properties; numerous PCF-based sensors have been proposed, developed and demonstrated for a broad range of sensing applications. In this chapter, we will review the field of research on design, development and experimental achievement of PCF-based interferometric sensors for physical and biomedical sensing applications

Polymer Based Miniature Fabry-Perot Pressure Sensors with Temperature Compensation: Modeling, Fabrication, and Experimental studies

Miniature Fabry-Perot (FP) pressure sensors have been of great interest because of their advantages of small sizes, high performance, and immunity to electromagnetic interference. Most of these sensors are built with silicon/silica materials that have good mechanical, chemical, and thermal stabilities. However, due to the large Young's modulus of silica/silicon, developing a high sensitivity miniature sensor becomes difficult. In addition, fabrication of these sensors often involves high temperature fusion bonding and harsh acid etching. On the other hand, a polymer material becomes an attractive choice for high sensitive and miniature pressure sensors due to its small Young's modulus relative to that of silicon/glass. Moreover, polymer processes can be performed under ambient pressure and temperature without hazardous chemicals. However, a polymer-based sensor suffers from high temperature sensitivity, which must be compensated to obtain accurate pressure measurements. In this dissertation, three types of polymer based FP miniature sensors for static or quasi-static pressure measurements are investigated through modeling, microfabrication, and experiments. First, co-axial and cross-axial FP sensors with a built-in fiber Bragg grating (FBG) for temperature measurement and compensation are studied. In both sensors, the FP cavity is precisely self-aligned with the optical axis by using the fiber as a natural mask, which eliminates the need for a photo mask and tedious optical alignments. Second, a FP sensor composed of a UV-molded optical cavity with a pre-written FBG is developed. For the first time, a UV molding process with an optical fiber based mold is developed for fabrication of miniature FP sensors. This process enables high accuracy optical alignment for UV molding. Taking advantage of the UV molding process, the third type of sensor features a hybrid dual FP cavity for simultaneous temperature and pressure measurements. A novel signal processing method is developed to retrieve the multiple cavity lengths with an improved speed, resolution, and noise resistance. Experimental studies show that these polymer based sensors have good pressure and temperature sensing performance as well as temperature compensation capabilities. In addition, blood pressure and intradiscal pressure measurements of a swine are performed, which demonstrates the feasibility of these sensors for biomedical applications