Optical fiber refractometer based on cladding-mode Bragg grating

We demonstrate an optical fiber refractometer based on a cladding-mode Bragg grating. It consists of a long-period grating (LPG) followed by a fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The LPG partially couples light from the core mode to a cladding mode, both of which are reflected by the FBG. Part of the cladding mode reflection is coupled back to the core mode through the original LPG and used for refractive index sensing. The core mode reflection is used to compensate for the temperature cross sensitivity of the refractometer. The sensors operate in the reflection mode and can be multiplexed on a fiber in wavelength domain. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America