Utilizing a Tunable Delay Line Interferometer to Improve the Sensing Accuracy of an FBG Sensor System

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel sensing system based on a tunable delay line interferometer. The tunable delay line interferometer has been used to interpret strain, bringing us high accuracy as well as tunability. The shifted wavelength of the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor caused by the applied strain can be visualized by an optical power meter (OPM) instead of an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) by converting it to a power change using a tunable delay line interferometer (TDI). Different free spectral ranges (FSRs) are assigned to the TDI to investigate the accuracy and operation range of the proposed system. Thus, we achieve high accuracy and sensitivity by adjusting the FSR to 0.47 nm. Experimental results show that the maximum output power variation corresponding to a strain of 10 με is about 0.9 dB when the FSR is set to 0.47 nm. The proposed system is also cost-effective regarding the equipment utilized for interrogation: a tunable delay line interferometer and an optical power meter.