Characterization of long period gratings manufactured with fiber optic fusion splicer for sensor development

Abstract

A Long Period Grating (LPG) is a structure inscribed in an optical fiber that is of great interest in the field of communications and sensors. At Centro de Investigaciones Ópticas (CIOp), an LPG manufacturing process was implemented. It is based on use of electric arcs produced with an optical fiber splicer to generate a series of physical disturbances that modify optical fiber behavior as a light transmis-sion guide. Since transmission response of LPG is sen-sitive to fiber environment conditions, it can be used to detect changes in certain physical and chemical pa-rameters. In particular, it enables the implementation of optical sensors sensitive to temperature, surround-ing medium refractive index and axial deformation. Characterization of locally generated LPGs is essen-tial for future design of sensors applicable in many engineering areas. In this article, typical LPG sensi-tivities to the three mentioned parameters are re-ported.