Highly sensitive temperature sensor using packaged optical microfiber coupler filled with liquids.

A novel temperature sensor based on a Teflon capillary encapsulated 2 × 2 optical microfiber coupler (OMC) filled with refractive index matching liquids is described. The sealed capillary and the filling liquid are demonstrated to enhance the temperature sensing performance, achieving a high temperature sensitivity of 5.3 nm/°C. To the best of our knowledge, the temperature sensor described in this article exhibits the highest sensitivity among the OMC structure based fiber optic temperature sensors. Experimental results also show that it has good repeatability along with a fast response time of 243 ms.