Simplified white-light interferometric strain sensor based on HB fiber with automatic temperature compensation

Abstract

A simplified white-light interferometric strain sensor based on HB fibers with automatic temperature compensation is presented. A variety of experiments conducted within this study confirm an adequate temperature compensation could be achieved. Several different sensor structures were investigated during these experiments. One of the most important results shows that the interference contrast could significantly influence the measurement accuracy achievable by the system. Consequently, a 1% or even better absolute accuracy for short sensing fibers is possible if the contrast is enhanced to 0.5. A quasi-distributed cascade containing several discrete sensors with 0.5 contrast is also suggested.