Abstract

Microstructured polymer optical fibers (mPOFs) offer advantages in many sensing applications due to their large strain capability compared with silica fibers [1]. Dual-core mPOFs have also been shown to be very sensitive to the refractive index of materials infiltrating the microstructure [2], with applications in biomedical sensing [3]. A common problem in sensing applications is the separation of the various extraneous effects (especially temperature and strain) which can modify propagation in the mPOF, and hence may cause significant sensing errors. For this reason it is necessary to understand and quantify the sensitivity of dual-core mPOFs to strain and/or temperature. It may also be possible to utilise dual-core mPOFs for sensing temperature and/or strain [4], or as tunable couplers.

© 2015 IEEE