Analysis of fiber Fabry-Perot interferometric sensors using low-coherence light sources

Sensitivity, fringe contrast, and dynamic range are the three most important parameters in the theoretical performance evaluation of fiber Fabry-Perot (F-P) interferometric sensors. This paper theoretically models the effect that the cavity length, the F-P finesse, the source bandwidth, mirror misalignments and symmetry play in the sensitivity, fringe contrast, and dynamic range of a fiber F-P interferometer interrogated with a low-coherence light source. The developed systematic fiber F-P interferometer analysis approach and the numerical analysis results on both guided and unguided fiber F-P interferometer (FFPI) sensors may provide useful guidance for sensor design optimization.