Modal interference discrepancy and its application to a modified fiber Mach-Zehnder Vernier interferometer

Abstract

In this paper, modal interference discrepancy in an all-fiber MZI is theoretically analyzed and experimentally verified. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that ambient refractive index (RI) response of core-cladding modal interference in an all-fiber MZI is blue-shift, while that of cladding-cladding modal interference is red-shift. Temperature response trends of the two kinds of modal interference are uniformly red-shift. The discrepancy is used to fabricate an improved Vernier sensor which is cascaded by two unit MZIs. One MZI is slightly core-offset fused to obtain core-cladding modal interference, and the other is obviously offset fused to get cladding-cladding modal interference. Ambient RI sensitivity of the cascaded sensor is improved with temperature cross-talk restrained. Ambient RI responses of the two unit MZIs are measured to be opposite, which are -54.009 nm/RIU (within RI range of 1.3362∼1.3811) for the slight and 142.581 nm/RIU for the obvious offset unit MZI. While, temperature response trends of them are consistent, which are 0.042 nm/°C for the slight and 0.025 nm/°C for the obvious offset unit MZI, respectively. For the cascaded Vernier sensor ambient RI sensitivity reaches -1788.160 nm/RIU, which is 33.1 and 12.5 folds improved over the two unit MZIs, respectively. Temperature sensitivity of the cascaded sensor is as low as 0.167 nm/°C and only causes a slight RI error of 9.339 × 10−5 RIU/°C. Due to the simple structure, ease of fabrication, and low temperature cross-talk, the modal interference discrepancy-based Vernier sensor is believed to have potential application prospects in biochemical sensing fields.