Properties of a fibre optic strain sensor in the configuration of a Mach-Zehnder modal interferometer with a polarization maintaining photonic crystal fibre

The paper presents the properties of a strain sensor, which was made using the micro hole collapse method and operates in the configuration of a Mach-Zehnder modal interferometer with a PM-1550-01 polarization maintaining photonic crystal fibre. The sensor’s transfer curve was determined analytically. Its strain sensitivity, determined from measurements, decreases slightly with increasing wavelength and is in a range from -2.01 to -2.23 pm/με in the wavelength range 1520-1580 nm. Based on the Fourier analysis of the wavelength spectrum of the constructed sensor, the difference of the group refractive indices of the core and the cladding of the photonic crystal fibre was determined, which are in a range from 7.45·10^-3 to 1.01·10^-2. The temperature sensitivity of the sensor, determined on the basis of measurements performed in a range from 23 to 60°C, is positive and equals 5.9 pm/K.