Four-core fiber-based bending sensor

A novel four-core fiber-based bending sensor has been proposed. The four-core fiber is used as the sensing element, the four cores of the fiber act as a four-beam interferometer, and the far-field interferogram grids with periodical distributions are formed on the fiber output end. Since the phase difference is a function of the radius of curvature, the change of the radius of curvature shifts the far-field interferometric grid pattern. A low-coherence laser diode with wavelength of 650 nm is adopted to illuminate the fiber, and the interferogram pattern in the farfield is recorded by a CCD camera. The relationship between the far-field grid pattern intensity distribution and the radius of curvature is established theoretically and confirmed experimentally.