阅读说明：本技术 级联宏弯曲和交替单模-多模光纤结构温度折射率传感器 (Cascade macrobend and alternative single mode-multimode fiber structure temperature refractive index sensor ) 是由 滕传新 朱永洁 苑立波 于 2020-12-31 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提出了一种结构简单、制备工艺简单、成本低廉的级联宏弯曲和交替单模-多模光纤(SMF-MMF)结构温度折射率传感器,用于同时测量折射率和温度变化。交替熔接的SMF-MMF结构形成了长周期光纤光栅结构,通过将其密封在热收缩套管中,可以提高其温度灵敏度。该传感器在传输光谱中可以观察到两个明显的共振峰,通过监测透射谱中两个波谷中心波长的变化可以实现对外界液体折射率和温度的同时测量,且具有较高的温度灵敏度。(The invention provides a cascaded macrobend and alternative single mode-multimode fiber (SMF-MMF) structure temperature refractive index sensor which is simple in structure, simple in preparation process and low in cost and is used for measuring refractive index and temperature change simultaneously. The alternately fused SMF-MMF structure forms a long period fiber grating structure, and the temperature sensitivity of the structure can be improved by sealing the structure in a heat shrinkable sleeve. The sensor can observe two obvious resonance peaks in a transmission spectrum, can realize simultaneous measurement of the refractive index and the temperature of external liquid by monitoring the change of the central wavelength of two wave troughs in the transmission spectrum, and has higher temperature sensitivity.)

1. The preparation method of the cascade macrobend and alternative single mode-multimode fiber (SMF-MMF) structure temperature refractive index probe is characterized in that: the SMF-MMF alternate structure is packaged by a heat-shrinkable sleeve to improve the temperature sensitivity of the SMF-MMF alternate structure, and is cascaded with an optical fiber with a macro-bending structure to form a temperature and refractive index sensing probe. The preparation method comprises the following steps:

the SMF-MMF alternating structure is prepared by welding SMF and MMF together by using an optical fiber fusion splicer, then cutting off the MMF with fixed length by using a high-precision optical fiber cutting device, then welding the MMF with the SMF together, and repeating the process. The prepared alternating SMF-MMF structure is then encapsulated with a heat shrink sleeve and inserted and fixed in another plastic tube, and a cascaded macrobend structure is formed by placing the other end of the optical fiber into the tube as well. The macrobend diameter can be changed by pulling the fiber end, and finally, the fibers are fixed on the plastic pipe by using UV curing glue, so that a stable macrobend structure can be obtained.

2. The cascaded macrobend and alternating SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensing probe of claim 1, wherein the length of the single mode fiber is 400 μm, the length of the multimode fiber is 250 μm, said long period fiber grating has a total of 4 periods, the period length is 650 μm, and the gate region length is 2.6 mm. The diameter of the macrobend SMF is 9mm, and the protective coating of the bending section is peeled off.

3. The cascaded macrobend and alternating SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensing probe of claim 1, wherein: the outer diameters of the single-mode and multimode fibers were 125 μm, the diameter of the single-mode core was 9 μm, and the diameter of the multimode core was 65 μm.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of optical fiber sensing, and particularly relates to a temperature refractive index sensor of a cascade macrobend and alternative single mode-multimode fiber (SMF-MMF) structure for enhancing temperature sensitivity.

Background

The optical fiber sensor has the advantages of small volume, high sensitivity, electromagnetic interference resistance, strong remote operation capability and the like, and is widely researched in the fields of environmental monitoring, bioengineering and the like. At present, the optical fiber sensor is widely applied to real-time monitoring in the aspects of medical treatment, chemistry, petroleum pipeline detection, ultra-high voltage transmission equipment, aerospace, large-scale building engineering and the like.

Refractive index is an important research topic in the fields of bioengineering, environmental monitoring, food detection, and the like, as an inherent property of a substance. However, the measurement of the refractive index often has the problem of cross sensitivity of temperature, so that the realization of simultaneous measurement of the temperature and the refractive index has important value, and the attention of domestic and foreign researchers is attracted. Such as: the Chinese invention patent 'temperature double-parameter measurement sensor based on long period fiber grating refractive index' of patent application No. 201420024605.X provides an optical fiber temperature refractive index sensor, the structure of which is realized by continuously writing two adjacent Long Period Fiber Gratings (LPFG) with different periods on an optical fiber by a carbon dioxide laser. Such as: the chinese patent of invention "composite fiber grating sensor and its refractive index and temperature double-parameter measuring method" of patent application No. 201811638117.7 provides a composite fiber grating sensor and its refractive index and temperature double-parameter measuring method, the sensor structure is that a carbon dioxide laser is used successively at the same position of the optical fiber to write long period grating by point-by-point writing method and an ultraviolet exposure method is used to write tilted grating. Such as: patent application No. 201910560522.X Chinese invention patent "composite fiber grating sensor and refractive index and temperature double-parameter measuring method" provides a temperature and refractive index double-parameter sensor based on a double-core fiber directional coupler and a long-period fiber grating, and the sensor is formed by sequentially connecting a light source, a single-mode fiber, a section of double-core fiber, a single-mode fiber and a detector. However, in the manufacturing process of the optical fiber temperature refractive index sensor, a complex process or special optical fiber etching equipment and technology are required, which increases the manufacturing difficulty and cost of the sensor and hinders the practicality of the sensor, and the sensitivity is low because the optical fiber grating is used for sensing the temperature. Therefore, how to realize the optical fiber temperature refractive index sensor with simple structure, low preparation cost and high sensitivity is undoubtedly of great practical significance.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a cascade macrobend and alternative SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensor with simple structure, simple preparation process and low cost. And, by adopting the heat-shrinkable sleeve to encapsulate the alternate SMF-MMF structure, the temperature measurement sensitivity can be improved.

The invention provides a preparation method of a cascade macrobend and alternate SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensing probe, which comprises the following steps: the sensing probe consists of an alternating SMF-MMF structure and a bare macrobend SMF. Wherein, the SMF and MMF alternate structure forms a long-period fiber grating structure. According to the structure, the SMF and the MMF are firstly welded together by using an optical fiber welding machine, then the MMF with the fixed length is cut by using a high-precision optical fiber cutting device, then the MMF and the SMF are welded together, and the process is repeated, so that the alternate SMF-MMF structure can be prepared. The prepared alternating SMF-MMF structure is then encapsulated with a heat shrink sleeve and inserted and fixed in another plastic tube, and a cascaded macrobend structure is formed by placing the other end of the optical fiber into the tube as well. The macrobend diameter can be changed by pulling the fiber end, and finally, the fibers are fixed on the plastic pipe by using UV curing glue, so that a stable macrobend structure can be obtained. In this process, a spectrum analyzer is used to monitor the output spectrum until a distinct mach-zehnder interference (MZI) formant is observed.

The present invention may further comprise:

1. the single-mode fiber length of the cascade macrobend and alternative SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensor is 400 mu m plus 200 mu m, the multi-mode fiber length is 300 mu m plus 100 mu m, the long-period fiber grating has 2-6 periods in total, the period length is 800 mu m plus 400 mu m, and the grating region length is 1-5 mm. The diameter of the macrobend SMF is 5-15mm, and the protective coating of the bending section is peeled off to improve the interaction between the environment and the optical signal.

2. The outer diameters of the single-mode and multi-mode fibers in the long-period fiber grating are 125 mu m, the diameter range of the single-mode fiber core is 8-9 mu m, and the diameter range of the multi-mode fiber core is 50-65 mu m.

3. The invention provides a preparation method of a cascaded macrobend and alternate SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensor, which has the advantages of simple structure, simple preparation process, low cost, controllable length and period of a fiber grating and controllable diameter of macrobend SMF and the like.

The working principle of the invention is as follows: the alternative SMF-MMF structure forms a long-period grating effect to generate a resonance peak, the bent structure generates an MZI effect and also generates an interference peak, the two are cascaded to generate two independent resonance peaks, and further the simultaneous measurement of the temperature and the refractive index can be realized. The working principles are respectively explained as follows: for the alternate SMF-MMF structure, light emitted by a wide-spectrum light source firstly enters a single-mode fiber for transmission, and when the light is transmitted to a first SMF-MMF interface surface, a fundamental mode transmitted in a fiber core of the single-mode fiber is incident into a multimode fiber and is converted into a high-order mode; when light continues to be transmitted in the multimode fiber through the MMF-SMF interface, due to the fact that the diameters of the fiber cores of the single-mode fiber and the multimode fiber are not matched, one part of light can return to the fiber core of the single-mode fiber and is converted into a basic mode in the fiber core of the single-mode fiber, and the other part of light can enter the cladding of the single-mode fiber and is converted into a cladding mode which is easy to be lost by the coating layer. Because of the short length of the single mode fiber in this MMF-SMF structure, the cladding mode is not completely lost when it is transmitted to the next multimode fiber, and a portion of the energy is recoupled back into the core and interferes with the fundamental mode in the core. Therefore, when the SMF-MMF optical fiber is arranged in a periodic structure, the energy of the fundamental mode is periodically coupled into a high-order mode and then coupled back to the fiber core, thereby forming a long-period fiber grating effect. When the light wave with specific wavelength meets the phase matching condition, the interference effect of the fiber core fundamental mode and the specific cladding mode is strongest, and thus a resonance peak appears on the output spectrum. Due to the isolation effect of the thermal shrinkage sleeve, when the refractive index changes, the output spectrum of the structure cannot generate response. However, when the temperature is changed, the effective refractive index and the structural size of the optical fiber are slightly changed due to the thermo-optic effect and the thermal expansion effect, so that the shift of the resonance peak is caused. On the other hand, due to the thermal shrinkage characteristic of the thermal shrinkage sleeve, the axial stress of the optical fiber can be changed, and due to the elasto-optical effect, the period of the alternate SMF-MMF structure and the effective refractive index of the optical fiber can be further changed, so that the resonance peak can be further shifted, and the temperature sensing sensitivity can be increased.

For the macrobend structure, after light enters the bent single-mode fiber, the light is divided into two parts: some of the light leaks into the cladding, causing several cladding modes to be excited and propagate along the fiber; the remaining light continues to propagate through the core. At the other end of the bending region, the cladding mode is coupled back to the fiber core, and due to different transmission optical paths, an interference phenomenon is generated, and a resonance interference peak appears in an output spectrum. When the refractive index changes, the effective refractive index of the cladding changes, and then the interference peak shifts; when the temperature changes, the effective refractive indexes of the fiber core and the cladding of the optical fiber change, and the macrobending structure also changes to a certain extent, so that the position of an interference peak moves.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following advantages:

1. the temperature and refractive index sensor with the cascaded macrobend and alternate SMF-MMF structure has the advantages of simple manufacturing process, no need of expensive grating writing equipment, stable structure and low cost.

2. The preparation method of the cascade macrobend and alternative SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensor is flexible, the length of a welded single-mode or multimode optical fiber can be controlled to adjust the grating period, and different sensing probes can be obtained by changing the diameter of the macrobend SMF.

3. The cascade macrobend and alternate SMF-MMF structure temperature and refractive index sensor can realize simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index, has sensitivity, and has important application value in the sensing field.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a cascaded macrobend and alternating SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensor of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a transmission spectrum of the sensor at room temperature;

FIG. 3 shows the simulation result of optical field energy distribution of an optical fiber with an alternative SMF-MMF structure;

FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged view of the transmission spectrum of the sensor as a function of the external refractive index, and LPFG and MZI resonance peaks;

FIG. 5 is a plot of LPFG and MZI resonance peak variation with external refractive index;

FIG. 6 is a partial enlarged view of the transmission spectrum of the sensor as a function of ambient temperature and the LPFG and MZI formants;

FIG. 7 is a plot of the center wavelength of the LPFG and MZI resonance peaks as a function of ambient temperature;

fig. 8 shows the wavelength of the sensor as a function of the ambient refractive index and temperature.

Detailed Description

Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 1, the structure of the cascaded macrobend and alternating SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensor of the present invention is schematically illustrated. The sensing probe consists of an alternating SMF-MMF structure and a bare macrobend SMF. Wherein, the SMF-MMF alternate structure forms a long-period fiber grating effect. According to the structure, the SMF and the MMF are firstly welded together by using an optical fiber welding machine, then the MMF with the fixed length is cut by using a high-precision optical fiber cutting device, then the MMF and the SMF are welded together, and the process is repeated, so that the alternate SMF-MMF structure can be prepared. The prepared alternating SMF-MMF structure is then encapsulated with a heat shrink sleeve and inserted and fixed in another plastic tube, and a cascaded macrobend structure is formed by placing the other end of the optical fiber into the tube as well. The macrobend diameter can be changed by pulling the fiber end, and finally, the fibers are fixed on the plastic pipe by using UV curing glue, so that a stable macrobend structure can be obtained.

Referring to fig. 2, the transmitted light spectrum of the cascaded macrobend and alternating SMF-MMF structure temperature refractive index sensor of the present invention. The working principles are respectively explained as follows: for the alternate SMF-MMF structure, light emitted by a wide-spectrum light source firstly enters a single-mode fiber for transmission, and when the light is transmitted to a first SMF-MMF interface surface, a fundamental mode transmitted in a fiber core of the single-mode fiber is incident into a multimode fiber and is converted into a high-order mode; when light continues to be transmitted in the multimode fiber through the MMF-SMF interface, due to the fact that the diameters of the fiber cores of the single-mode fiber and the multimode fiber are not matched, one part of light can return to the fiber core of the single-mode fiber and is converted into a basic mode in the fiber core of the single-mode fiber, and the other part of light can enter the cladding of the single-mode fiber and is converted into a cladding mode which is easy to be lost by the coating layer. Because of the short length of the single mode fiber in this MMF-SMF structure, the cladding mode is not completely lost when it is transmitted to the next multimode fiber, and a portion of the energy is recoupled back into the core and interferes with the fundamental mode in the core. Therefore, when the SMF-MMF optical fiber is arranged in a periodic structure, the energy of the fundamental mode is periodically coupled into a high-order mode and then coupled back to the fiber core, thereby forming the long-period fiber grating. When the light wave with specific wavelength meets the phase matching condition, the interference effect of the fiber core fundamental mode and the specific cladding mode is strongest, and thus a resonance peak appears on the output spectrum. Due to the isolation effect of the thermal shrinkage sleeve, when the refractive index changes, the output spectrum of the structure cannot generate response. However, when the temperature is changed, the effective refractive index and the structural size of the optical fiber are slightly changed due to the thermo-optic effect and the thermal expansion effect, so that the shift of the resonance peak is caused. On the other hand, due to the thermal shrinkage characteristic of the thermal shrinkage sleeve, the axial stress of the optical fiber can be changed, and due to the elasto-optical effect, the period of the alternate SMF-MMF structure and the effective refractive index of the optical fiber can be further changed, so that the resonance peak can be further shifted, and the temperature sensing sensitivity can be increased.

For the macrobend structure, after light enters the bent single-mode fiber, the light is divided into two parts: some of the light leaks into the cladding, causing several cladding modes to be excited and propagate along the fiber; the remaining light continues to propagate through the core. At the other end of the bending region, the cladding mode is coupled back to the fiber core, and due to different transmission optical paths, an interference phenomenon is generated, and a resonance interference peak appears in an output spectrum. When the refractive index changes, the effective refractive index of the cladding changes, and then the interference peak shifts; when the temperature changes, the effective refractive indexes of the fiber core and the cladding of the optical fiber change, and the macrobending structure also changes to a certain extent, so that the position of an interference peak moves.

In summary, two formants appear on the transmission spectrum of the sensor of the present invention: one is caused by the LPFG effect and one is caused by the macrobend structure. The alternate SMF-MMF structure forms a long-period grating effect to generate a resonant peak, while the bent structure generates an MZI effect and also generates an interference peak, and the two are cascaded to generate two independent resonant peaks. By monitoring the change of the wavelengths of the two types of resonance peaks, the simultaneous measurement of the external refractive index and the temperature is realized. It can be seen from the figure that two distinct LPFG and MZI resonance peaks appear at the positions of wavelengths of about 1217.8nm and 1621.2nm on the transmission spectrum, resulting from the LPFG structure and the macrobend structure, respectively.

Referring to fig. 3, the simulation result of optical field energy distribution of the optical fiber with the alternate SMF-MMF structure shows that the optical wave energy periodically diffuses into the cladding due to the difference of core radius of SMF and MMF, and exchanges energy in the SMF-MMF structure.

Referring to fig. 4, the transmission spectrum of the sensor in liquids of different refractive indices is shown. From fig. 4(a), the MZI resonance peak is red-shifted as the ambient refractive index increases from 1.335 to 1.38, while the LPFG peak remains almost unchanged at 1217.6 ± 0.2nm because it is sealed in a heat-shrinkable tube and is not affected by the external refractive index. Fig. 4(b) and 4(c) show magnified images of LPFG and MZI formant regions, respectively. Weak fluctuations of the LPFG resonance peak can be seen when the surrounding refractive index changes, which may be caused by interference effects of the macro-bending structures.

Referring to fig. 5, refractive index curves of LPFG and MZI formants as a function of the external refractive index from 1.335 to 1.38 are shown. From the linear fit, the refractive index sensitivity of the MZI formants was found to be 165.04 nm/RIU.

Referring to fig. 6, the transmission spectrum of the sensor is shown as a function of ambient temperature. During the experiment, the sensor probe was placed in a water bath with a temperature change of 80 ℃ to 35 ℃ and the transmission spectrum was recorded every 5 ℃. The thermometer is used to monitor the temperature around the probe in real time. As shown in fig. 6(a), as the temperature decreases, the LPFG peak is in the long wavelength direction, and the wavelength position of the MZI peak is almost unchanged. Fig. 6(b) and (c) are enlarged images of LPFG and MZI formant regions, respectively.

Referring to fig. 7, the relationship between temperature change and wavelength change is shown. From the linear fit, average temperature sensitivities of the LPFG and MZI resonance peaks were obtained-255.52 pm/° C and-5.82 pm/° C, respectively.

Referring to fig. 8, the response of the sensor is shown at different ambient temperatures and refractive indices. When the RI changes, the effective index of the fiber cladding will change, which will cause a shift in the MZI resonance peak. When the temperature changes, the resonant peaks of the LPFG and the MZI also move due to the thermo-optic effect and the thermal expansion effect of the optical fiber. Thus, the change Δ λ of the LPFG and MZI formants when the ambient refractive index and temperature change simultaneously_LPFGAnd Δ λ_MZICan be described as:

wherein, K_RIAnd K_TRespectively, refractive index sensitivity and temperature sensitivity coefficient. Δ n and Δ T are refractive index and temperature changes, respectively.