Heterogeneous all-solid multicore fiber based multipath Michelson interferometer for high temperature sensing

A compact high temperature sensor utilizing a multipath Michelson interferometer (MI) structure based on weak coupling multicore fiber (MCF) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The device is fabricated by program-controlled tapering the spliced region between single mode fiber (SMF) and a segment of MCF. After that, a spherical reflective structure is formed by arc-fusion splicing the end face of MCF. Theoretical analysis has been implemented for this specific multipath MI structure; beam propagation method based simulation and corresponding experiments were performed to investigate the effect of taper and spherical end face on system's performance. Benefiting from the multipath interferences and heterogeneous structure between the center core and surrounding cores of the all-solid MCF, an enhanced temperature sensitivity of 165 pm/degrees C up to 900 degrees C and a high-quality interference spectrum with 25 dB fringe visibility were achieved.(C) 2016 Optical Society of America