Magnetic field sensing based on magnetic-fluid-clad fiber-optic structure with taper-like and lateral-offset fusion splicing

A kind of magnetic field sensor composed of magnetic fluid surrounding a segment of singlemode fiber is proposed. The taper-like and lateral-offset fusion splicing techniques are employed. The sensing principle is based on cladding mode interference. The interference valley wavelength or transmission loss of the sensing structure is sensitive to the external magnetic field, which is utilized for magnetic field sensing. The linear response regions are obtained in the range of 38-225 Oe and 250-475 Oe. For the valley-wavelength-shift-type sensing, the sensitivities are 14.1 pm/Oe and 26 pm/Oe at low and high field ranges, respectively. For the transmission-loss-variation-type sensing, the sensitivity of -0.024 dB/Oe is achieved for the magnetic field strength ranging from 250 to 475 Oe. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America