Simultaneous Measurement of Seawater Temperature and Pressure With Polydimethylsiloxane Packaged Optical Microfiber Coupler Combined Sagnac Loop

In the field of physical oceanography, the temperature and pressure of seawater are important fundamental parameters. In order to realize the simultaneous measurement of the temperature and pressure in seawater, a reflective optical fiber sensor based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-sealed optical microfiber coupler combined with a sagnac loop (OMCSL) is proposed. Benefiting from the high thermo-optical coefficient and large elasticity of PDMS, and the large-scale swift field transmission characteristics of optical microfiber coupler (OMC), the sensitivity and structural stability of our sensor is largely improved. The response performance of the sensor is further analyzed by numerical simulation calculations and theoretical modeling. Experimental results show that the temperature and pressure sensitivity of the sensor could reach -2.133 nm/degrees C and 3.416 nm/Mpa, respectively, about one order higher than that of bare fiber OMCSL. Furthermore, via inversely calculating the cross-sensitivity matrix, the temperature and pressure sensing can be demodulated simultaneously, and the average errors of the preliminary experimental settlements are 1.61% and 5.02%, respectively. Due to the merits of compact structure, easy fabrication, high sensitivity, fast response speed and high stability, the basic performance of this dual parametric sensor is comparable to the existing electrical temperature-depth (TD) sensor, which is expected to meet the practical application requirements of marine environmental monitoring and ocean dynamics research.

Automated summary

In this study, a reflective optical fiber sensor based on a PDMS-sealed optical microfiber coupler combined with a sagnac loop was proposed to achieve simultaneous measurement of temperature and pressure in seawater. The sensor showed improved sensitivity and structural stability compared to bare fiber sensors. Experimental results demonstrated the sensor's ability to demodulate temperature and pressure sensing simultaneously, with average errors of 1.61% and 5.02%, respectively. The sensor's compact structure, ease of fabrication, high sensitivity, fast response speed, and high stability make it comparable to existing TD sensors for marine environmental monitoring and ocean dynamics research.