Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

All-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer with dual-waist PCF structure for highly sensitive refractive index sensing

  • Published:
Applied Physics B Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A simple, highly sensitive, and all-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) refractive index (RI) sensor was proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which was fabricated by welding a dual-waist photonic crystal fiber (DWPCF) with two single-mode fibers. The two waists in the PCF, which acted as splitter and combiner of the MZI, could be simply formed by fusion-tapering technique. The high-order cladding modes could be largely excited in the first waist region and propagated along the cladding until the second waist region, where it would be returned into the fiber core and interfered with the core mode. When the RI around the DWPCF changed, an effective RI variation of the cladding modes might generate, which resulted in the shift of interference spectrum. Therefore, the external RI variation could be obtained by monitoring the wavelength position of the interference pattern. Experimental results showed that the interference wavelength shifted with the increase of the external RI, and high measurement sensitivity of 263.5 nm/RIU was achieved with good linearity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. M. Danaie, B. Kiani, Design of a label-free photonic crystal refractive index sensor for biomedical applications. Photon. Nanostruct. Fundam. Appl. 31, 89–98 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. B.Y. Li, Z.C. Sheng, M. Wu et al., Sensitive real-time monitoring of refractive indices and components using a microstructure optical fiber microfluidic sensor. Opt. Lett. 43(20), 5070–5073 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Y.N. Zhang, T.M. Zhou, B. Han et al., Optical bio-chemical sensors based on whispering gallery mode resonators. Nanoscale 10, 13832–13856 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Q.Y. Shi, Y.P. Wang, Y.F. Cui et al., Resolution-enhanced fiber grating refractive index sensor based on an optoelectronic oscillator. IEEE Sens. J. 18(23), 9562–9567 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Y.C. Tan, W.B. Ji, V. Mamidala et al., Carbon-nanotube-deposited long period fiber grating for continuous refractive index sensor applications. Sens. Actuators B Chem. 196, 260–264 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Z.W. Ding, T.T. Lang, Y. Wang et al., Surface plasmon resonance refractive index sensor based on tapered coreless optical fiber structure. J. Lightw. Technol. 35(21), 4734–4739 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. M.D. Lu, W. Peng, Q. Liu et al., Dual channel multilayer-coated surface plasmon resonance sensor for dual refractive index range measurements. Opt. Express 25(8), 8563–8570 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. S.D. Chu, K. Nakkeeran, A.M. Abobaker et al., Design and analysis of surface-plasmon-resonance-based photonic quasi-crystal fiber biosensor for high-refractive-index liquid analytes. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 25(2), 6900309 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. P.C. Chen, X.W. Shu, H.R. Cao, Novel compact and low-cost ultraweak Fabry–Perot interferometer as a highly sensitive refractive index sensor. IEEE Photon. J. 9(5), 7105810 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  10. T.H. Xia, A.P. Zhang, B.B. Gu et al., Fiber-optic refractive-index sensors based on transmissive and reflective thin-core fiber modal interferometers. Opt. Commun. 283(10), 2136–2139 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Q. Wang, L.X. Kong, Y.L. Dang et al., High sensitivity refractive index sensor based on splicing points tapered SMF-PCF-SMF structure Mach–Zehnder mode interferometer. Sens. Actuators B-Chem. 225, 213–220 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Z.R. Tong, Y.M. Zhong, X. Wang et al., Research on simultaneous measurement of refractive index and temperature comprising few mode fiber and spherical structure. Opt. Commun. 421, 1–6 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. J.B. Liu, D.N. Wang, L. Zhang, Slightly tapered optical fiber with dual inner air-cavities for simultaneous refractive index and temperature measurement. J. Lightw. Technol. 34, 4872–4876 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. K.W. Li, N. Zhang, N.M.Y. Zhang et al., Birefringence induced Vernier effect in optical fiber modal interferometers for enhanced sensing. Sens. Actuators B-Chem. 275, 16–24 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. L. Melo, G. Burton, P. Kubik et al., Refractive index sensor based on inline Mach–Zehnder interferometer coated with hafnium oxide by atomic layer deposition. Sens. Actuators B-Chem. 236, 537–545 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. N.L.P. Andrews, R. Ross, D. Munzke et al., In-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer for gas refractive index measurements based on a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber. Opt. Express 24(13), 14086–14099 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Y. Zhao, D. Wu, Q. Wang, All-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer using a tapered photonic crystal fiber for refractive index measurement. IEEE Sens. 2014, 1080–1083 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Y.C. Tan, Z.Q. Tou, K.K. Chow et al., Graphene-deposited photonic crystal fibers for continuous refractive index sensing applications. Opt. Express. 23(24), 31286–31294 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Y. Zhao, F. Xia, H.F. Hu et al., A novel photonic crystal fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer for enhancing refractive index measurement sensitivity. Opt. Commun. 402, 368–374 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. C.P. Lin, Y. Wang, Y.J. Huang et al., Liquid modified photonic crystal fiber for simultaneous temperature and strain measurement. Photon. Res. 5(2), 129–133 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Y. Zhao, X.G. Li, L. Cai et al., Refractive index sensing based on photonic crystal fiber interferometer structure with up-tapered joints. Sens. Actuators B-Chem. 221, 406–410 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. M.Z. Zhang, G.X. Zhu, L.D. Lu et al., Refractive index sensor based on ultrafine tapered single-mode nocladding single-mode fiber structure. Opt. Fiber Technol. 48, 297–302 (2019)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Y. Dong, S.Y. Xiao, B.L. Wu et al., Refractive index and temperature sensor based on d-shaped fiber combined with a fiber Bragg grating. IEEE Sens. J. 19(4), 1362–1367 (2019)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Y.Q. Ma, D. Guo, Y.Y.L. Gao et al., High sensitive Z-shaped fiber interferometric refractive index sensor: simulation and experiment. IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 30(12), 1131–1134 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 61603265, 61703080 and 61273059, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant N160408001 and N180404011, the Doctoral Research Project of Shenyang Normal University under Grant BS201702, the Liaoning Province Natural Science Foundation under Grant 20170540314, and the State Key Laboratory of Synthetical Automation for Process Industries under Grant 2013ZCX09. We would acknowledge Bo Han for his help in measuring NaCl solution. Ya-nan Zhang acknowledges the financial support from the China Scholarship Council for his Visiting Scholarship no. 201806085010.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Peng Gao & Songwei Liu

  2. Liaoning Institute of Standardization, Shenyang, 110003, China

    Yiping Gao

  3. College of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Meiyue Li & Ya-nan Zhang

Authors
  1. Peng Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yiping Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Meiyue Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Songwei Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ya-nan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ya-nan Zhang.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gao, P., Gao, Y., Li, M. et al. All-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer with dual-waist PCF structure for highly sensitive refractive index sensing. Appl. Phys. B 125, 107 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-019-7221-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-019-7221-0

Search

Navigation