Intensity-modulated strain sensor based on fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer employing core-offset

摘要

A novel intensity-modulated strain sensor based on a fiber in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer is proposed and demonstrated, which is constructed by splicing a thin core fiber between two single mode fibers with a core offset. Such an interferometer exhibits a large fringe visibility of more than 15 dB. When used in axial strain sensing from 0 to 400 με, the interferometer operates at intensity mode of detection with a high sensitivity of -0.023 dB/με without the cross sensitivity between temperature and strain. Its ease of fabrication, high strain sensitivity and intensity mode of detection makes it a low-cost alternative to existing sensing applications.