MICROMETRIC DISPLACEMENT SENSOR BASED ON

THE STRAIN OF A FIBER BRAGG GRATING WITH

HETERODYNE DETECTION OF INTENSITY IN A MACHZEHNDER INTERFEROMETER.
By
Hely Gonzalez-Rivera et al.

VIII International Congress of Physics Engineering

November 2016

Introduction
An optical fiber is a cylindrical dielectric waveguide made of
a low-loss material such as silica glass. It has a central
core in witch the light is guided, embedded in an outer
cladding of a slightly lower refractive index [1].

Fiber optics as a sensor

Besides the light transmission through long distances, an
optical fiber is able to provide additional information about
the environment where it is located. This characteristic is
possible by measurements in the properties of the confined
light as intensity, wavelength, phase and polarization [2, 3].

Fiber Bragg grating

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is periodic variation in the
refractive index in a small section of optical fiber. As light
propagates along the fiber a very narrow range of
wavelengths is reflected by the Bragg grating, while all
other wavelengths are transmitted through the grating [4].

Fiber Bragg grating straining

The strain applied to the FBG is expressed in microstrains
() which is a dimensionless unit that roughly describes
the elongation of 1 m in an optical fiber with a length of 1
m [5].

Fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer

Thorlabs
Fiber coupled SLD

Thorlabs S155C

B1

1550.073 nm

BW1

0.954 nm

R1

92.05%

B2

1549.999 nm

BW2

0.967 nm

R2

94.37%

Setup
One end of the FBG was attached on a high-precision
rotation mount in order to strain the grating section. Its
minimum angular displacement unit is 2.40 arcmin or 0.04,
equivalent to a linear displacement of 24.40 m [6]. In turn
this is equivalent to a strain of 90.37 .

FBG reflectivity spectral

Experimental results

Parameter

Result

Strain range
Step
Step size
size

0 to 1807.40
180.74
180.74

Behavior equation
Sensibility

0.7721 pW/m

Experimental results

Parameter

Result

Strain range
Step
Step size
size

0 to 1807.40
451.85
451.85

Behavior equation
Sensibility

0.7775 pW/m

Conclusions
The interferometric sensor described provides a simple
method that allows us the possibility to measure other
parameters in the same system. Experimental results show
that this technique has an acceptable sensibility. The
system resolution depends on the photodetector
responsivity but if we want improve our resolution we need
to considerate all the variables that are introducing noise in
the system.

References
[1
]

B. E. A. Saleh, and M. C. Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics, 2nd edition, Willey, 2007.

[2
]

H. Bellil, and M. Abushagur, Heterodyne detection for Fiber Bragg Grating sensors, Optics &
Laser Technology, 32 (5) pp. 297300 (2000).

[3
]

A. Mendez, Medical applications of fiber-optics: Optical fiber sees growth as medical sensors,
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2011/01/medical-applications-of-fiber-optics-optical-fi
ber-sees-growth-as-medical-sensors.html
, Oct. 3 2016.
A. Cusano, A. Cutolo, and J. Albert, Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors: Recent Advancements,
Industrial Applications And Market Exploitation, Bentham Books, 2011.

[4
]
[5
]

S. Yin, P. B. Ruffin, and F. T. S. Yu, Fiber Optic Sensors, 2nd edition, CRC Press, 2008.

[6
]

M. A. Casas-Ramos, Implementacin de un acelermetro uniaxial en fibra ptica con rejilla

Bragg, Tesis de maestra, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, Ciudad de Mxico, 2016.