This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JLT.2018.2878475, Journal of
Lightwave Technology
1 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. xx, NO. xx, xxxx x, 2018
High sensitivity all optical fiber
conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensing
based on an optical microfiber coupler (OMC)
Yang Yu, Qiang Bian, Yang Lu, Xueliang Zhang, Junbo Yang, Linmei Liang

Abstract—An all optical fiber CTD sensor used in seawater
based on an OMC is demonstrated. And the OMC is fabricated by
fusing and tapering two twisted conventional communication
fibers based on the improved flame-brushing method. By
monitoring the sensing dips, in situ measurement of salinity,
temperature and depth (pressure) in seawater can be realized
respectively. Especially, the water depth (pressure) sensing
function of the OMC is demonstrated for the first time, and the
pressure sensitivity is 50 times higher than a bare fiber Bragg
grating (with a wide pressure measurement range from 0 MPa to
25 MPa). The highest sensitivities of salinity, temperature and
depth are 1596 pm/‰, 2326 pm/℃, and 169 pm/Mpa,
respectively.These are high enough for the requirements of
marine dynamic environmental monitoring and underwater
target detection of fiber-optic hydrophone system. The all optical
fiber CTD sensor demonstrated here show advantages of easy
fabrication, compact structure, high sensitivity, low cost, and
compatibility with the optical fiber system, which may find
applications in multifunction optical sensors in ocean detections
and other applications.
Index Terms—optcal microfiber coupler, salinity, temperature,
depth (pressure), all optical fiber sensing.
I. INTRODUCTION
S ALINITY, temperature and depth are the most important
parameters in physical oceanography applications, because
of they are the fundamental parameters of the seawater equation
of state [1]-[3]. In situ monitoring these parameters is of great
importance for process control in manufacturing industries,
protection of ecosystems, prevention of global warming, and
especially underwater target monitoring and recognition [4].
Traditionally, the salinity, temperature and depth of seawater is
measured by the conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) syste
Manuscript received July 14, 2018; revised September 9, 2018; accepted
October 25, 2018. Date of publication xxx xx, 2018; date of current version xxx
xx, 2018. This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China
under Grants 61805278. (Corresponding Author:Yang Yu.)
Yang Yu is with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College
of meteorology and Oceanology, National University of Defense Technology,
Changsha, Hunan 410073, China (e-mail:yuyang08a@nudt.edu.cn).
Qiang Bian, Yang Lu and Xueliang Zhang are with the College of
meteorology and Oceanology, National University of Defense Technology,
Changsha, Hunan 410073, Chinae (e-mail: bianqiang16@nudt.edu.cn; luyang
01@nudt.edu.cn; zhang_xueliang@nudt.edu.cn).
Junbo Yang and Linmei Liang are with the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan
410073, China (e-mail: yangjubo@nudt.edu.cn; nmliang@nudt.edu.cn).
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-m, which is a typical electronic-type device [1]. Although
electronic-type CTD system has the advantage of high
precision and wide-ranging practicality, the system is usually
expensive and big, may suffer from electromagnetic
interference, and is not applicable for detecting the skin and
micro/nano scale of seawater [1]-[5]. Moreover, in order to
achieve salinity and temperature data in certain depth of ocean,
series connection of CTDs will have to be used in sea trials,
which greatly drives up the costs [5]. Therefore, a growing
interest on fiber optic sensors has arisen due to their well known
characteristics of compactness, high sensitivity, convenient
multiplexing, in situ measurement, and immunity to external
electromagnetic interferences.
In the past, many optical fiber sensors for salinity,
temperature and/or depth(pressure) in seawater have been
developed, including fiber Bragg grating, fiber Fabry-Pérot
interferometer, two-core fiber, photonic crystal fiber, plastic
optical fiber, and microfiber knot/coil resonators, and so on
[6]-12]. However, most of them are low-sensitivity and the
complex fabrications may limit their further applications in
developing high performance and low-cost optical sensors in
ocean multiparameter detections [3]. Compared to the above
approaches, optical sensors based on microfibers have attracted
more and more attention due to their advantages of smaller
sizes, higher sensitivities, simpler fabrications, lower costs and
faster responses, which have been widely used in sundry
physical parameters sensing [13]. In particular, as a typical
optical micro-/nanophotonic device, optical microfiber coupler
(OMC) has been widely used in humidity [14], temperature
[15], magnetic field [16], [17], twist [18]and liquid refractive
index (RI) sensings [19]. In addition, the OMC used as a sensor
relies on the environment influencing the coupling between two
evanescent fields, which is more sensitive than a single
microfiber [20]. More recently, seawater salinity and
temperature sensor based on a microfiber directional coupler
has been demonstrated, which proved a new optical method to
measure ocean multiparameter with high sensitivities, low
detection limit and miniaturized sizes [3]. However, in order to
strengthen the device, the Ethyl cellulose ethoce solvent is used
to coat on the coupling area of the microfiber directional
coupler, which will lead to additional losses. Especially, to the
best of our knowledge, depth (pressure) sensors based on OMC
for liquid (especially in seawater) have not been demonstrated
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2 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. xx, NO. xx, xxxx x, 2018
experimentally.
In this paper, an all optical fiber CTD sensor used in seawater
based on an OMC is demonstrated. And the OMC is fabricated
by fusing and tapering two twisted conventional communicat
-ion fibers based on the improved flame-brushing method[21],
[22]. Compared with the microfiber directional coupler, the
fusing and tapering OMCs are more mechanically stable and
the structure parameters can be accurately controlled. By
monitoring the sensing dips, in situ measurement of salinity,
temperature and depth in seawater can be realized respectively.
The highest sensitivities of salinity, temperature and depth
(pressure) is 1596 pm/‰, 2326 pm/℃, and 169 pm/Mpa,
respectively. The all optical fiber CTD sensor demonstrated
here show advantages of easy fabrication, compact structure,
high sensitivity, low cost, and compatibility with the optical
fiber system, which may apply to the multifunction sensing in
ocean detections and other applications.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND SENSING PRINCIPLE
A. Fabrication of the OMC
The OMC is fabricated with two twisted conventional single
mode fibers (SMFs, fiber1 and fiber2) in the OMC drawing
system based on an improved flame-brushing method [21]-[24].
Before the fabrication of the OMC, the two SMFs first have
their polymer coating removed, and the two SMFs are twisted
two times to ensure good contact between the two fibers at the
uncoated region, which helps to increase mechanical stability
and optical coupling. Then the two twisted fibers are
sequentially fixed on the two stages of the taper system, and the
fixing process is slightly stressed and then clamped by the
clamp on the stage (to ensure the stability of the two fibers
twisting in the tapering process). As shown in Fig. 1, the two
electrically driven translation stages are stretched under the
control of a computer, and the bare part of the fibers are heated
by the microheater (CMH-7019, NTT-AT).
Fig. 1. Fabrication setup of the OMC
In order to monitor and feedback control the tapering
parameters, an online transmitted light power monitoring
system is set up. As shown in Fig. 1, one injection end of the
fiber1 is connected with a laser source (RIO Company, 1550
nm, linewidth 2 kHz). The output ports of fiber1 and fiber2 are
directly connected to the photodetector (OE-200). In this
tapering system, the OMCs with different structures can be
produced by precisely controlling the parameters, such as the
length of the heating zone (corresponding to the length of the
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OMC’s uniform waist region L), the heating temperature, the
tapering velocity, and the cone angle (the taper model is based
on the principle of volumetric stretching [24]). The OMC
drawing process uses the self-contained monitoring system of
the taper system to observe the loss and mode evolution
characteristics of the OMC, and reduces the OMC drawing
error by feedback control methods such as temperature and
tensile speed (regarding the related drawing control techniques,
see references [22], [23]). Therefore, through the
above-mentioned taper process control, the mechanical
stability of the OMC sample obtained in this paper is more
stable. The structural parameters are controllable, and the
insertion loss is small.
B. Sensing principle
The OMC is comprised of two taper regions and an uniform
waist region, and the schematic diagram of the composition
OMC is shown in Fig. 2. In the coupling region (including the
partial taper region and the uniform waist region ), The
refractive index n(x,y,z) and propagation constant β(z) of local
position section change with position z. Considering that the
coupling region changes slowly, local coupled mode theory can
be utilized to analyze the coupling property of the OMC [21].
According to the partial mode coupling theory, the OMC`s total
coupling can be seen as a superposition of local coupling, and
the OMC output light intensity of Port3 and Port 4 can be
expressed as[16]-[22]:
 l 
 P3  P0 cos   c , n2 , z dz   P0 cos 
2 2
 0 

  l

P  P s in 2
  c , n2 , z dz   P0sin 2
 4 0  
 0  (1)
where P0 is input light intensity, l is coupling length，c(λ, n2,z)
is the coupling coefficient in location z. For fusing and tapering
OMC, the thinner tapered transition region and uniform waist
region of the OMC plays an important role on the coupling
characteristics of the OMC[21], [22]. In addition, the coupling
of the OMC` waist region can be regarded as the coupling
between the two microfibers in the waist region. Consequently,
we only consider strong coupling at the OMC coupling region.
For the strong coupling case, the two tapered microfibers touch
and fuse each other, and the coupling coefficient in couple
region location z can be expressed as[17], [18]
3 1
c , n2 , z  
32n2 r 1  1 V 2
2
(2)
where V  2r    n  n  2
2 3 
2 12
is the normalized
frequency, r is the radius of the microfiber at the waist region, λ
is the incident light wavelength, n2 and n3 are the RIs of of fiber
cladding (silica) and external environment respectively.
Equations (1) and (2) exposit that the light transmission
characteristics of the OMC depends on the silica RI n2, external
material RI n3, incident light wavelength λ, coupling length l
and radius of microfiber at the waist region r.
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As a fabricated device, the output power of the OMC (port3
and port4) varies with light wavelength and these variations can
be detected through an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA). When
the external environment changes (the n3 vary), the waveguide
structure and waveguide RI maybe change also (the n2 , l and r
vary also). Therefore, the corresponding wavelength will shift
as the n2, n3, l and r changes, and monitoring the shift of
specific wavelength (e.g. dip wavelength), the function of
sensing can be realized. As we know, the refractive index ns of
seawater (n3) increases with the increasing of salinity S and
depth (pressure) P, and decreases with temperature T rising
[1]-[3]. In addition, when the seawater temperature changes,
the thermo-optical effect will cause the refractive index of the
OMC` waveguide (n2) and coupling length (l) to change. When
the depth of seawater changes, lateral pressure will also lead the
n2 and l to change. Therefore, put the OMC into seawater can
achieve salinity, temperature and depth (pressure) of seawater
sensing.
Fig. 2. The schematic diagram of the OMC
Fig. 3. (a) Schematic of the experiment setup for the measurement of salinity,
temperature and depth in seawater. (b) The salinity measuring experimental
setup and the optical microscopic image of an OMC sample (Inset). (c) The
temperature measuring experimental setup. (d) The depth measuring
experimental setup.
For salinity sensing, according to (1) and (2), the sensitivity
can be derived as [17], [23]
d   n
SS    
dS  n S
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Lightwave Technology
According to Eqs. (1)-(3), for strong coupling dominates the
whole coupling process of the OMC, the dip wavelength will
red-shift with the environmental RI [19]. The OMC` uniform
waist region has the smallest diameter, and plays the most
important role on OMC` coupling coefficient [21]. If we only
consider the sensing efficiency of the OMC` uniform waist
region, the expression formula of salinity sensitivity can be
obtained from Eqs. (1)-(3). And we use L to denote the length
of the uniform waist region, and rw to denote the radius of the
microfiber at the uniform waist region. In addition, based on the
above analysis, we can also obtain the sensitivity formula of
seawater temperature and depth sensing based on the OMC [20],
[25]. Referring to Eqs. 3, the temperature and depth sensitivity
derivation formula can be written as
d    n  l 
ST        (4)
dT   n T l T 
d    n  l 
SP        (5)
dP   n P l P 
C. Experimental setup
The schematic diagram of experiment setup for measurement
of salinity, temperature and depth (pressure) in seawater based
on an OMC shows in Fig. 3 (a). The system consists of a
broadband light source (ASE source, 1525~1560 nm,OPEAK),
optical spectrum analyzer (OSA, 600 nm~1700 nm, Q8384,
ADVANTEST, the resolution is 0.01 nm), CTD system (CTD,
model sd204, SAIV A/S) and conductivity meter (HS-15TW),
temperature controlled seawater tank (KQ2200DE) and water
pressure seal tank. The port1 of the OMC is connected to the
ASE source, and the output signal from port2 and port4 is sent
into the OSA for signal analysis. Due to the mode coupling, the
OMC`s transmission spectrum displays several dips. Sensing
function can be realize by detecting the shift of dip
wavelengths[3].
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Salinity response
Salinity, one of the essential parameters in oceanography,
plays an important role in marine environment, ocean
circulation and other phenomena. In this paper, the salt solution
with different concentrations was made from pure water and
NaCl, and the seawater sample to be tested is poured into a
water tank. The experiment setup is shown in Fig. 3(b). The
initial salinity and temperature of the seawater sample are
25.64‰ and 25.1℃, respectively(the seawater sample volume
is about 2.8L). We use an OMC sample with the length of the
uniform waist region as L=7.8mm, and the radius of the
microfiber as rw=0.9μm for salinity testing (The coupling
length has an effect on the distance between the adjacent
sensing dips [20]). To show the OMC more clearly, an optical
microscope image of the coupling area is shown in the inset of
Fig. 3(b). As shows in Fig. 3(b), the OMC is fixed in the U-type
(3) metal groove to enhance the device stability and reduce the
bending loss, then the as-assembled OMC sensor is immersed
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into the sample.
To demonstrate the salinity sensing, the salinity of the
seawater is first artificially tuned by successively adding about
500ml distill water into the seawater sample under the certain
temperature of 25.1℃. At the same time, the salinity and the
temperature of the seawater sample is measured by a
electronic-type CTD (CTD, model sd204, SAIV A/S). In the
process of salinity measurement, spectral monitoring analysis
of the OMC` port3 and port4 is carried out, respectively. Figure
4(a) shows the red shift of the port4 sensing dips as salinity
increases from 14.66‰ to 25.64‰, and the spectral monitoring
results from the port3 can also get similar red shift regular
pattern (Be limited by the spectrum scan test range, port3 only
have two dips can satisfy the entire dynamic range of
experimental monitoring), which is consistent with theoretical
analysis.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4. (a) Transmission spectra at different salinities under temperature of 25℃.
(b) Relationships between the dip wavelengths and the salinities of the OMC`
port3 and port4.
To estimate the sensitivities, typical sensing dips of the port3
and the port4 are tracked, and their dip values at different
salinities are shown in Fig. 4(b). The fitting results show that,
the relationship between the dip wavelengths and the salinity
satisfies cubic function, and the sensitivity decreases with the
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increase of salinity (in the case of salinity less than 25%). Since
the sensing characteristics of the OMC sensors are related to
their structural parameters, it is difficult to give a rigorous and
versatile sensitivity analysis expression. However, for a given
OMC sensor sample, the sensing response characteristics and
laws are stable. In addition, the global average seawater salinity
is about 35‰, except for the Dead Sea, most of the sea has a
salinity of less than 45‰. Therefore, if the response sensitivity
can better meet the specific fitting function relationship and
response law, the designed sensor can realize sensor
demodulation under a certain salinity test dynamic range (such
as ~45‰).
The experiment results show that, the maximum sensitivity
of port4 is estimated to be Ss1=1596 pm/‰ for dip 1, Ss2=1542
pm/‰ for dip 2 and Ss3=1560 pm/‰ for dip 3 at salinity of
14.66‰, respectviely (The maximum sensitivity of port3 is
Ss1=1436 pm/‰ for dip 1, Ss2=1370 pm/‰ for dip 2,
respectively). In addition, within the spectral detection range
(1525-1560nm), the salinity detection dynamic range of the
sensor is about ~16‰. Compared with the existing sensors, the
maximum salinity sensitivity demonstrated here is higher than
the microfiber directional coupler [3], two magnitudes higher
than the polyimide-coated photonic crystal fiber [2] and FBG
[4], and the salinity sensitivity can be further increased by
decreasing the diameter of the OMC waist region [1], [20].
B. Temperature response
The temperature of seawater is one of the basic parameters of
the ocean, and related to many oceanographic phenomena and
marine observations (e.g. the ocean internal-wave phenomena
occur with the variation in seawater vertical temperature [7]).
After the salinity sensing, we carry out the temperature sensing
with the same OMC. The seawater sample to be tested is poured
into a temperature controlled water tank. The experiment setup
is shown in Fig. 3(c). The salinity of seawater is kept to be
14.66‰, and the sample is heated by the temperature controlled
water tank with temperature increasing to 42℃ gradually.
Meanwhile, the temperature and the salinity of the seawater
sample is measured by a conductivity meter (HS-15TW). In
order to avoid the influence of temperature inhomogeneity
during seawater heating, the cooling process of the seawater is
tested in the experiment. As is shown in Fig. 5(a), the sensing
dips blue shift as temperature of seawater rises.
The sensing dip wavelength values at different temperatures
are given in Fig. 5(b). As shown in Fig. 5(b), the wavelength
shift decreases approximately linearly with the increasing
temperature, and from the liner fitting results measured
sensitivities of dip 1, dip 2 and dip 3 are ST1=2250 pm/℃,
ST2=2094 pm/℃ and ST3=2326 pm/℃, respectively. Similarly,
the temperature detection dynamic range of the sensor can be
obtained from the experimental results, which is about ~11℃.
Although the temperature sensitivity of the OMC sensor is two
magnitudes higher than those of FBG [4], the measurement
may be inaccurate when the sensing dip shifts exceed the
distance between adjacent dips. Therefore, in practical
applications, if the OSA is used to directly detect and
demodulate sensor data, the balance between test sensitivity
and dynamic range needs to be considered.
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Existing studies have shown that, for sensors based on
microfiber, stronger evanescent fields usually lead to higher
sensitivities [3]. Although the aforementioned OMC samples
have higher temperature sensitivity, the dynamic test range is
relatively limited when using OSA for data detection and
demodulation analysis. In view of this, this paper also selected
an OMC sample with a larger diameter and a shorter length of
the uniform waist region for temperature experiments.
intensity noise in the transmission spectra, this paper always
chooses to read the intensity peak of the tracked dip during data
processing. From the test results, this data reading error is
within the acceptable range. In addition, the insertion loss of the
OMC samples is generally below 2dB, while the additional loss
of seawater is about 13 dB. The above factors make the power
of the probe light small, which results in a large noise of the
spectrum detection signal. In view of this, in practical
applications, in order to improve the system detection accuracy
(ie, improve the signal-to-noise ratio), a high-output power
source may be used for wavelength scanning detection, or the
detection source may be optically amplified and then injected
into the sensor.

(a)

(a)

(b)
Fig. 5. (a) Transmission spectra at different temperatures under salinity of
14.66‰. (b) Relationships between the dips wavelengths and the temperatures.

Thus, we chose an OMC sample (sample 2) with a large

diameter for temperature sensing, and the length of the uniform
waist region is L=7.2mm, the radius of the microfiber is
rw=1.2μm. With the same seawater sample (The salinity is
14.66‰), the initial temperature is increased to be 40℃
gradually, and then the cooling process of the seawater is tested.
The transmission spectra collected from port 4 of fiber 2 is
recorded as shown in Fig. 6(a). The OMC sample`s
transmission spectral noise is slightly larger than the
aforementioned sample, which is mainly caused by the increase
of the experimental system`s additional loss due to problems
such as corrosion pollution. Although there is a problem of
(b)
Fig. 6. (a) Transmission spectra at different temperatures under salinity of
14.66‰(L=7.2mm, rw=1.2μm). (b) Relationships between the dip wavelengths
and the temperatures (L=7.2mm, rw=1.2μm).
For the OMC sample 2 only one dip can be selected as the
sensing dip, so we choose three peak wavelengths for signal
analysis. As Fig. 6(a) shows that, with the increasing
temperature, the sensing peaks shift to the short waveband,
which is similar with results shown in Fig. 6(a). This shows that,
by tracking the peak wavelengths, temperature sensing analysis
can also be realized.

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The value of the sensing peak wavelengths at different experiment was carried out with pure water, and the water
temperatures are plotted in Fig. 6(b). The peaks shift temperature was tested to be 25.4℃.
approximately linearly with the temperature change, and the The spectral monitoring results from the port3 as the pressure
liner fitting results show ST1=810 pm/℃ for peak 1, ST2=1298 rising is shown in Fig. 7(a). The OMC sample (sample 3) used
pm/℃ for peak 2 and ST3=1436 pm/℃ for peak 3, respectively. here has the length of the uniform waist region as L=8mm, and
It seems that at the long wavelength the temperature sensitivity the radius of the microfiber as rw=0.8μm. For the waist region
of the OMC can be higher. Use this OMC sample, temperature of the OMC sample is longer and thinner, four dips can be used
sensing analysis same can be realized by tracking the dip, and for test analysis. As shown in Fig. 7(a), the sensing dips red
temperature sensitivity as ST=1254 pm/℃ is achieved (the shift as the water pressure rises. The experimental results verify
detection dynamic range is about ~20℃). the function of water depth (pressure) sensing based on the
Although sample 2 has only one dip wavelength in the OMC.
detection spectrum, it can perform sensor demodulation
tracking over the entire detection spectrum. So it can have a
larger detection dynamic range. And the experiment further
verified the correspondence between the sensitivity of the
OMC sensor and its structural parameters. That is, for the
OMC`s uniform waist with smaller diameter and longer length,
the detection sensitivity will be higher.
In fact, the detection sensitivity and the detection dynamic
range of the sensor is not only related to the sensor's own
structural design, but also related to the demodulation method.
In this paper, the common OSA equipment is used to collect the
experimental data of each group in batches, and then the
subsequent data processing analysis. Therefore, when the
sensing test range is too large, the traced dip wavelength offset
will exceed the adjacent resonant wavelength, and this will lead
to reading difficulties or test errors. In practical engineering
applications, environmental changes are generally slow
processes (such as temperature and depth), so the dip (a)
wavelength is slowly drifting. In view of this, the
environmental parameter variation can be analyzed by directly
reading the dip wavelength offset by the instrument (such as the
OSA), or use a digital processing scheme of wavelength
scanning combined with wavelength tracking. If the digital
processing scheme is adopted, the data tracking detection range
can be extended to the whole scan spectral region of the probe
light source. Therefore, the use of a wider spectrum of scanning
light source, combined with wavelength tracking processing
technology, can greatly expand the dynamic range of sensor
testing.
C. Deep response
The depth of seawater is an important parameter in marine
dynamic environment, which is mainly measured by pressure
sensor. Existing optical fiber pressure sensors include fiber
Bragg grating, fiber Fabry-Pérot interferometer, etc. [9]-[12]. (b)
However, most of them have complex fabrications, small Fig. 7. (a) Relationships between the dips wavelengths and the pressure. (b)
Transmission spectra at different depths (pressure).
dynamic range and low sensitivity. In view of this, the OMC is
used for the first time to verify the sensing function of seawater The sensing dip wavelength values at different pressures are
depth (pressure) here, and the experiment setup is shown in Fig. given in Fig. 7(b). The dips shift approximately linearly with
3(d). In the experiment, the OMC sensor is placed in a water the pressure rises, and the linear fitting results show that
pressure seal tank (the end fiber of the sensor is derived from SP1=124 pm/Mpa for dip 1, SP2=139 pm/Mpa for dip 2, SP3=169
the fiber hole on the pressure tank), and the water depth is pm/Mpa for dip 3 and SP4=145 pm/Mpa for dip 4, respectively.
simulated by changing water pressure. The change of water In addition, the pressure detection dynamic range of the sensor
pressure is calibrated and tested by the piezometer brought by is about ~147Mpa. From the test results can be seen that, the
the pressure tank. To prevent corrosion of metal water tanks pressure sensing response characteristics of the OMC are
(and due to greater water requirements), the water pressure similar to the temperature sensing response, and the pressure

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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JLT.2018.2878475, Journal of
Lightwave Technology
7 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. xx, NO. xx, xxxx x, 2018
sensitivity increases with the increasing of wavelength below
1555nm. This type of pressure sensor is 50 times more sensitive
than that of a bare fiber Bragg grating [9]. Experimental results
demonstrate that the sensor has reasonable linearity, sensitivity
and a wide pressure measurement range from 0 MPa to 25 MPa.
The minimum differentiable wavelength of the OSA is 0.01nm,
so the water pressure resolution can be lower than 0.1 MPa.
In fact, due to the limitation of the precision of the
piezometer and the limited high pressure of the pressure tank, it
is difficult to realize higher precision and greater pressure
sensing tests. It is expected that this type of fiber pressure
sensor can be used for deep-sea depth sensing. If high precision
OSA or wavelength scanning technology is used, more accurate
depth (pressure) sensing can be realized. We can also adhere
the OMC` waist region to the elastic base material. It is
expected that the sensitivity of the sensor can be further
improved, and the corresponding research work will be carried
out in the future.
D. Discussion
The above experiments verified the salinity, temperature and
depth (pressure) sensing function of the OMC sensor, and
showed good sensing performance. But in practical
applications, the cross sensitivity of the three parameters needs
to be considered and distinguished. Existing research results
show that, dual-wavelength measurement can resolve this
problem to realize selective sensing [3], [20]. In the fact,
different sensing dips have different responses to the changes of
salinity, temperature and depth (pressure), and this has been
verified in the previous experiments (as shown in Figs. 4(b),
6(b) and 7(b)). Based on this, in practical applications of the
OMC sensor, the sensitivity of salinity, temperature and depth
(pressure) of the different dips can be pre-calibrated and the
database can be established.
In view of this, this paper provides a signal processing
method for simultaneous monitoring and demodulation of the
CTD.This is a cross-sensitivity inversion operation method,
which can be divided into four steps:
(a) By adjusting the length and the diameter of the OMC`s
waist region, ensure that the transmission characteristic
spectrum of the OMC has three dips in the entire spectral
scanning range of the probe light (the design process also needs
to consider the sensitivity and the test dynamic range). Further,
make sure the response sensitivity of the three dip wavelengths
to the same parameter is different (in fact, due to the evanescent
field transmission characteristics of the OMC, the sensitivity is
larger when the sensor operates at longer wavelength).
(b) Then the salinity, temperature and depth response
sensitivities of the three dip wavelengths of the CTD sensor are
respectively calibrated. The specific implementation method is
as follows: fix the CTD sensor in seawater, keep its water depth
and temperature unchanged, change the salinity (such as adding
pure water), and calculate the salinity sensitivities
corresponding to the three dip wavelengths (SS1, SS2, SS3); then,
the salinity and depth of the seawater sample in which the
sensor is located are kept unchanged, the seawater temperature
is changed, and the temperature response sensitivities (ST1, ST2,
ST3) corresponding to the three dip wavelengths are separately
calculated; finally, keep the salinity and temperature of the
seawater sample unchanged, change the depth of the sensor
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(actually measured by changing the seawater pressure to avoid
the temperature change crosstalk caused by the actual water
depth change), and then calculate the depth response
sensitivities (SP1, SP2, SP3) corresponding to the three dip
wavelengths.
(c) The CTD sensor is immersed in a still sea water surface
with a temperature of 20 ° C (water depth approx. 0 m, salinity
35 ‰), and the wavelength values (λ1, λ2, λ 3) corresponding to
the three dips of the CTD sensor transmission spectra were
measured. In the actual monitoring process of the marine
environment parameters, the sensing system will use λ 1, λ2 and
λ 3 as the standard calculation wavelengths of the sensors, and
establish a standard database for processing software calls.
(d) Based on the above test calibration, the simultaneous
measurement of the salinity temperature and pressure (S, T and
P) can be realized by using the cross-sensitivity matrix as
follows:
dip1   S S 1 ST 1 S P1   S 
  
S P 2  T 
dip 2    S S 2 ST 2
    S ST 3 S P 3   P 
 dip 3   S 3
The basis of the above inversion operation demodulation
scheme is to ensure that the cross-sensitivity matrix
determinant is not equal to zero, which can be realized by the
above OMC`s structure parameter selection design.
In summary, the OMC sensor used in this paper was
fabricated by fusing and tapering two fibers based on the
improved flame-brushing method [22], [23], and the structure
parameter can be accurately controlled. The length of the
uniform waist region(the coupling length) and the radius of the
microfiber at the waist region can be flexibly modulated
according to the sensing requirements. For example, in order to
obtain higher sensitivities and realize the cross sensitivity
demodulation, the OMC with longer length of the uniform
waist region and smaller radius of the waist region is needed,
and more sensing dips will provide more opportunity for
multiparameter (three or more parameters) sensing in ocean
detection and other applications. At the same time, the
detection accuracy of the OMC sensor can be improved by
using the higher precision wavelength scanning technology
and the source with a wider spectrum.
IV. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD)
system is the most important equipment in the application of
marine environmental monitoring. In this paper, a high
sensitivity all optical fiber CTD sensor used in seawater based
on an OMC is demonstrated. The highest sensitivities of
salinity, temperature and depth are 1596 pm/‰, 2326 pm/℃,
and 169 pm/Mpa, respectively. The sensitivity of the OMC
sensor can be improved by optimizing its structure, e. g., using
OMC with longer length of the uniform waist region and
smaller radius of the waist region for high sensitivities and
multi-parameter sensing. Here, the water depth (pressure)
sensing function of the OMC is demonstrated for the first time,
and the pressure sensitivity is 50 times higher than a bare fiber
Bragg grating. It can be used for deep-sea depth sensing, and
future improvement may be achieved by adhering the OMC
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JLT.2018.2878475, Journal of
Lightwave Technology
8 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. xx, NO. xx, xxxx x, 2018
waist region to the elastic base material. And by adopting the
cross-sensitivity inversion calculation method, it is expected to
realize the synchronous sensing detection of the three
parameters of the CTD.
The all optical fiber CTD sensor demonstrated here is
compatible with the optical fiber system. It is convenient to
integrate with the existing fiber-optic hydrophone system
and to provide in-situ marine dynamic environmental
parameters for underwater target monitoring. Therefore, it
has important practical application value. In addition, the
sensor show advantages of easy fabrication, convenient
multiplexing, in situ measurement, high sensitivity and low
cost, which may find applications in multifunction optical
sensors in ocean detections and other areas.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We thank Jianfa Zhang for help with article writing.
Yang Yu received the Ph.D. degree in 2014. He is currently a post-doctoral
researcher in the College of meteorology and Oceanology, National University
of Defence Technology. His current research interests include optical
microfiber and optical fiber sensing.
Qiang Bian received the B.S degree in 2016. He is currently a postgraduate
student in the College of meteorology and Oceanology, National University of
Defence Technology. His current research interests include optical microfiber
and optical fiber sensing.
Yang Lu received the B.S. degree and Master degree in 2009 and 2011,
respectively, in optical engineering from National University of Defense
Technology, China, and the Ph. D degree from Department of Physics,
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada in 2015. His current research
interests include distributed fiber sensing technology and optical microfiber for
sensing and communications.
Xueliang Zhang received the Ph. D degree in 2007. He is currently an
associated professor in the College of meteorology and Oceanology, National
University of Defence Technology. His current research interests include
optical fiber sensor and optical fiber components.
Junbo Yang recieved the Ph.D degree in 2008. He is currently an associated
professor in the Center of Material Science, College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences, National University of Defence Technology, Changsha, Hunan,
China His current research interests include silicon nanophotonics,
two-dimensional materials and on-chip quantum optics.
Linmei Liang recieved the Ph.D degree in 2000. He is currently an professor in
the Center of Material Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, National
University of Defence Technology, Changsha, Hunan, China His current
research interests include silicon nanophotonics, two-dimensional materials
and on-chip quantum optics.