title: Macrobending single-mode fiber-based refractometer.
abstract: A macrobending-based all-fiber refractometer sensor with a simple optical configuration is proposed and investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The proposed fiber refractometer sensor consists of a single-loop structure of bare macrobending standard single-mode fiber (SMF28) with a selected bending radius and reduced cladding diameter. The well-known scalar approximation theory is employed to theoretically predict the characteristics of the proposed fiber refractometer sensor. An approach to improve the resolution of the refractometer is presented, which shows that the refractometer with a reduced cladding diameter of 81 mum has an experimentally verified resolution of 5.75x10(-5) for a refractive index range from 1.4586 to 1.5396 at the wavelength of 1550 nm.
authors.affiliation: Photonics Research Center, School of Electronic and Communications Engineering,Dublin Institute of Technology, Kevin Street, Dublin 8, Ireland. pwang@dit.ie
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuliya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Semenova
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.forename: Yunqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ti
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers