An In-Fiber Mach–Zehnder Interferometer Based on Arc-Induced Tapers for High Sensitivity Humidity Sensing

Author

Min Shao ; Xueguang Qiao ; Haiwei Fu ; Na Zhao ; Qinpeng Liu ; Hong Gao

Author_Institution

Shaanxi Key Lab. of Opt. Inf. Technol., Northwestern Polytech. Univ., Xi´an, China

Volume

13

Issue

5

fYear

2013

fDate

May-13

Firstpage

2026

Lastpage

2031

Abstract

A new humidity sensor based on in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed and demonstrated. The interferometer consists of two arc-induced ellipsoid fiber tapers and a section of single mode fiber between them. In our humidity experiment, the relative humidity sensitivity of MZI is -0.047 nm%RH in the range of 50%-90%RH. Temperature response characteristics of this MZI are also studied, and the temperature sensitivity is 0.067 nm/°C from 27 °C to 120°C. The experimental results show that the sensor has a linear response to humidity and temperature with linear fitting of 0.993 and 0.992, respectively. The MZI presented in this paper has advantages of low cost, easy fabrication, and high sensitivity, which can be a potential detector for the relative humidity measurement.

Keywords

Mach-Zehnder interferometers; fibre optic sensors; humidity sensors; arc-induced ellipsoid fiber tapers; arc-induced tapers; high sensitivity humidity sensing; humidity sensor; in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer; linear fitting; linear response; relative humidity measurement; relative humidity sensitivity; temperature 27 C to 120 C; temperature response characteristics; temperature sensitivity; Humidity; Interference; Optical fiber sensors; Optical interferometry; Sensitivity; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Humidity sensor; Mach–Zehnder interferometer; taper;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2013.2247591

Filename

6463420