Enhancement of the sensitivity of magneto-optical fiber sensor by magnifying the birefringence of magnetic fluid film with Loyt-Sagnac interferometer

Magnetic field sensor by combing magnetic fluid and optical fiber Loyt-Sagnac interferometer is proposed. The sensor takes advantage of the birefringence effect of magnetic fluid. The relative small birefringence of the magnetic fluid is 'magnified' by the properly designed optical fiber Loyt-Sagnac interferometric structure. As compared to the reported MF-based sensors, the achieved sensitivity of the proposed sensor is 592.8 pm/Oe, which is enhanced by 1-3 orders of magnitude. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.