Theoretical Analysis of Slow-light in π-phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating for sensing applications

In this paper, a theoretical analysis of slow-light in π-phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (π-FBG) for sensing applications has been presented. The coupled-mode theory (CMT) and transfer matrix method (TMM) have been used to establish the numerical modeling of slow-light in π-FBG. The influence of slow-light grating parameters, such as grating length (L), index change (δn), and loss coefficient (α), on the spectral and on the sensing characteristics of π-FBG are studied in detail. The simulation results show that for the maximum slow-light sensitivity the optimum grating parameters are obtained as L = 5 mm, δn = 1×10−3 and α = 0.10 m−1. The peak transmissivity of 0.55 and a remarkable group-index of 1477 is obtained from the optimized grating. The optimized π-FBG is used for slow-light sensing applications. The highest values of slow-light strain and temperature sensitivity of 8.431 µϵ−1 and 91.6435°C−1, respectively are achieved. The slow-light sensitivity of proposed π-FBG is the highest as compared to apodized FBGs reported in the literature. Therefore, the proposed slow-light π-FBG shows great importance in sensing applications.