A Composite Fabry-Perot Interferometric Sensor with the Dual-Cavity Structure for Simultaneous Measurement of High Temperature and Strain

Abstract

In this paper, an optical fiber composite Fabry-Perot interferometric (CFPI) sensor capable of simultaneous measurement of high temperature and strain is presented. The CFPI sensor consists of a silica-cavity intrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (IFPI) cascading an air-cavity extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI). The IFPI is constructed at the end of the transmission single-mode fiber (SMF) by splicing a short piece of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) to SMF and then the IFPI is inserted into a quartz capillary with a reflective surface to form a single-ended sliding EFPI. In such a configuration, the IFPI is only sensitive to temperature and the EFPI is sensitive to strain, which allows the achieving of temperature-compensated strain measurement. The experimental results show that the proposed sensor has good high-temperature resistance up to 1000 °C. Strain measurement under high temperatures is demonstrated for high-temperature suitability and stable strain response. Featuring intrinsic safety, compact structure and small size, the proposed CFPI sensor may find important applications in the high-temperature harsh environment.