Online fabrication scheme of helical long-period fiber grating for liquid-level sensing

We present a novel online fabrication scheme of helical long-period fiber gratings (H-LPFGs) by directly twisting a standard single-mode fiber (SMF) in a microheater. This is done by taking advantage of the inherent core-cladding eccentricity in SMF. We adopt a fiber optic rotary joint to eliminate the accompanying twisting spiral for real-time spectral monitoring and a stepping mechanical system to accurately control the twisting length in fabrication. As a consequence, low-cost and high-quality H-LPFGs can be readily fabricated. Meanwhile, by using this kind of H-LPFG, we design a simple and low-cost wavelength-interrogated liquid-level sensor with a high sensitivity of 0.1 nm/mm. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America