All-fiber, long-active-length Fabry-Perot strain sensor

This paper presents a high-sensitivity, all-silica, all-fiber Fabry-Perot strain-sensor. The proposed sensor provides a long active length, arbitrary length of Fabry-Perot cavity, and low intrinsic temperature sensitivity. The sensor was micro-machined from purposely-developed sensor-forming fiber that is etched and directly spliced to the lead-in fiber. This manufacturing process has good potential for cost-effective, high-volume production. Its measurement range of over 3000 mu epsilon, and strain-resolution better than 1 mu epsilon were demonstrated by the application of a commercial, multimode fiber-based signal processor. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America