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Asymmetric Mach–Zehnder interferometer-based optical sensor with characteristics of both wavelength and temperature independence

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Abstract

Optical sensors based on asymmetric Mach–Zehnder interferometer (AMZI) are very sensitive to wavelength and temperature, and their shift will affect the accuracy of measured parameters. An optical sensor based on dual AMZIs, which is independent of both optical source wavelength and ambient temperature, is presented. The designed optical sensor consists of two AMZIs cascaded, one as sensing AMZI and the other as compensating AMZI. When the wavelength and temperature change, the sensing curve of the sensing AMZI shifts, and the compensating AMZI reverses the sensing curve where it reaches a new balance without being affected by the wavelength and temperature. In this paper, the center wavelength of the optical source is 1550 nm, the shift is ± 0.1 nm, and the temperature compensation range is 5 ~ 45 °C. After compensation, the error is reduced by 2–3 orders of magnitude, and the maximum sensing error is reduced to < 0.2%. The designed sensor reduces the requirements on the optical source and ambient temperature, and greatly reduces the cost of the optical sensing system. Moreover, this compensation mechanism can be used not only for optical sensors, but also for other optical devices based on interference.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31430031, 61972232, 12074226), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC0803403), Teaching Reform Research Project of Shandong University (2020Y023), Fundamental Research Funds of Hisense Broadband. The authors thank Dr. Pamela Holt for editing the original manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, Shandong, China

    Yanxia Luo, Rui Yin, Qingjie Huang, Fengyu Liu, Qiang Liu & Qiang Li

  2. School of Computer Science and Technology, Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237, Shandong, China

    Lin Lu

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center of Optical Manipulations and Applications, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250358, Shandong, China

    Shouzhen Jiang

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  1. Yanxia Luo
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Correspondence to Rui Yin or Lin Lu.

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Luo, Y., Yin, R., Lu, L. et al. Asymmetric Mach–Zehnder interferometer-based optical sensor with characteristics of both wavelength and temperature independence. J Opt 52, 1008–1021 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-022-00916-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-022-00916-x

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