title: Highly sensitive miniature photonic crystal fiber refractive index sensor based on mode field excitation.
abstract: A highly sensitive miniature photonic crystal fiber refractive index sensor based on field mode excitation is presented. The sensor is fabricated by melting one end of a photonic crystal fiber into a rounded tip and splicing and collapsing the other end with a single-mode fiber. The rounded tip is able to induce cladding mode excitation, which resulted in an additional phase delay. Linear response of 262.28 nm/refractive index unit in the refractive index range of 1.337 to 1.395 is obtained for the physical length of a 953 μm sensor. The sensor is also shown to be insensitive to environmental temperature.
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637457, Singapore.
authors.forename: Wei Chang
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Chi Chiu
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Li Han
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhi Qiang
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Tou
authors.forename: Kam Chew
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Leong
mesh_terms: D007368:Interferometry; D008904:Miniaturization / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055100:Optical Fibers; D013057:Spectrum Analysis