@inproceedings{009bd5dc2f7c483d908dfaea5abe311f,
title = "Utilising a loop structure to allow a microfiber coupler with larger taper diameters to be used for sensing",
abstract = "This paper examines a technique that utilizes a Sagnac loop with a microfiber coupler (MFC) as a coupler which allows the MFC to operate effectively as a sensor but with larger than normal tapered fiber diameters. The proposed structure is found to be suitable for temperature and refractive index (RI) sensing. It is shown that a variation in the surrounding of the MFC RI results in a shift of the output spectrum, while a temperature variation leads to changes in the intensity of the interference dips. A decrease in the waist diameter of the MFC results in an increase in the sensitivity to temperature. For MFC structures based on a 5.6 μm and a 3 μm fiber waist diameter, the minimum transmission power level of a selected spectral dip decreases by 1.7 dB and 5.03 dB respectively, as the temperature changes from 18 °C to 44 °C. A change in the surrounding RI from 1.334 to 1.395 results in the spectral redshift of 8 nm using a 5.6 μm fiber waist diameter. By functionalizing the surface of the MFC with various materials, the structure could potentially be used for sensing of other parameters.",
keywords = "Fiber loop interferometer, Microfiber coupler (MFC), Microfiber sensor, RI sensor, Temperature sensor",
author = "Fangfang Wei and Gerald Farrell and Qiang Wu and Yuliya Semenova",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 SPIE.; 6th European Workshop on Optical Fibre Sensors ; Conference date: 31-05-2016 Through 03-06-2016",
year = "2016",
doi = "10.1117/12.2236636",
language = "English",
series = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
publisher = "SPIE",
editor = "Elfed Lewis",
booktitle = "Sixth European Workshop on Optical Fibre Sensors",
address = "United States",
}