Sensitivity-enhanced high-temperature sensing using all-solid photonic bandgap fiber modal interference.

A wavelength-encoded interferometric high-temperature sensor based on an all-solid photonic bandgap fiber (AS-PBF) is reported. It consists of a small piece of AS-PBF spliced core offset with standard single-mode fibers. Two core modes LP(01) and LP(11) are conveniently utilized as optical arms to form Mach-Zehnder-type interference at both the first and the second photonic bandgaps, and the maximum extinction ratio exceeds 25 dB. Experimental and theoretical investigation of its response to temperature confirms that high temperatures up to 700 °C can be effectively sensed using such an AS-PBF interferometer, and benefiting from a large effective thermo-optic coefficient of fiber structure, the sensitivity can be significantly enhanced (71.5 pm/°C at 600 °C).