Multicore fiber temperature sensor with fast response times

A multicore fiber (MCF) based temperature sensor was fabricated and packaged into a stainless-steel tube to protect the bare-fiber, and it offers a commercial friendly form factor. The sensor displayed a periodic supermode interference pattern that red-shifts with increasing temperature, which was used to calibrate the sensor. Additionally, an economical photodiode-based interrogator was fabricated from off-the-shelf parts and used to calibrate the sensor in both liquid and gas mediums. The response time to changes in temperature for the MCF sensor was found to be an order of magnitude faster than a thermocouple of identical diameter, 0.09 s compared to >1.0 s, respectively. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement