Advances in Multicore Fiber Grating Sensors

Abstract

In recent years, multicore fiber (MCF) has attracted increasing interest for sensing applications, due to its unique fiber structure of multiple parallel cores in a single fiber cladding, which offers a flexible configurable platform to establish diverse functional fiber devices for sensing applications. So far, a variety of discrete fiber sensors using MCF have been developed, among which one of the major categories is the MCF grating sensors. The most distinct characteristic of MCF that differs from the normal single mode fibers is that the off-center cores of a MCF are sensitive to bending, which is caused by the bending induced tangential strain in off-center waveguides through either compression or stretching. The bending sensitivity has been widely developed for bending/curvature sensing or measuring physical parameters that are associated with bending. In this paper, we review the research progress on MCF-based fiber grating sensors. MCF-based diverse fiber grating sensors will be introduced, whose working principles will be discussed, and various types of applications of the MCF grating sensors will be summarized. Finally, the challenges and prospects of MCF grating for sensing applications will be presented.