Electric-arc-induced long-period gratings in fluid-filled photonic bandgap fibre

Electric-arc-induced long-period gratings in a fluid-filled photonic bandgap fibre (PBGF) is demonstrated. Gratings of varying pitch were fabricated and excellent agreement between the measured resonances and numerically simulated phase matching curves is obtained. The PBGF geometry allows the detection of very small arc-induced structural deformations of the fibre and their correlation with the grating strength.