title: Spectral-domain measurements of birefringence and sensing characteristics of a side-hole microstructured fiber.
abstract: We experimentally characterized a birefringent side-hole microstructured fiber in the visible wavelength region. The spectral dependence of the group and phase modal birefringence was measured using the methods of spectral interferometry. The phase modal birefringence of the investigated fiber increases with wavelength, but its positive sign is opposite to the sign of the group modal birefringence. We also measured the sensing characteristics of the fiber using a method of tandem spectral interferometry. Spectral interferograms corresponding to different values of a physical parameter were processed to retrieve the spectral phase functions and to determine the spectral dependence of polarimetric sensitivity to strain, temperature and hydrostatic pressure. A negative sign of the polarimetric sensitivity was deduced from the simulation results utilizing the known modal birefringence dispersion of the fiber. Our experimental results show that the investigated fiber has a very high polarimetric sensitivity to hydrostatic pressure, reaching -200 rad x MPa(-1) x m(-1) at 750 nm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Technical University Ostrava, Ostrava-Poruba, Czech Republic. petr.hlubina@vsb.cz
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hlubina
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Martynkien
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olszewski
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mergo
authors.forename: Mariusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makara
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Poturaj
authors.forename: Waclaw
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Urbańczyk
mesh_terms: D001718:Birefringence; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008365:Manometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008420:Manufactured Materials / Q000032:analysis*; D008422:Materials Testing; D016062:Porosity; D011312:Pressure; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D014159:Transducers