Characterization of Mach Zehnder interferometer plastic optical fiber for intensity-based temperature sensor

Abstract

This paper presents characterization of optical temperature sensor using step-index plastic optical fiber (SI-POF) in intrinsic Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure. The MZI was developed by forming two tapers at several distance. By exploiting the wavelength dependency of spectrum intensity, measurement was done by using intensity based measurement at two different wavelengths. Characterizations were done to obtain the sensor performance which were sensitivity and hysteresis. The characterization was carried out by launching white LED to the sensor while the sensor was in temperature controlled-oven. The output spectrum was observed at the other sensor tip using spectrometer at various temperature which are 35°C to 85°C with increment of 10°C. It was found that the sensor has sensitivity and hysteresis of 1×10-3/°C and 1.97×10-2, respectively.