3D printed microfiber waveguide in C-shaped fiber for temperature and air pressure measurement

TL;DR

This paper introduces a 3D printed microfiber waveguide integrated into a C-shaped fiber for temperature and air pressure sensing, demonstrating high sensitivity, stability, and easy fabrication for practical applications.

Contribution

It presents a novel microfiber waveguide sensor fabricated via 3D printing and fusion splicing, enabling high-sensitivity measurements with simple manufacturing.

Findings

Temperature sensitivity of 361 pm/°C from 25°C to 45°C

Air pressure sensitivity of 55 pm/kPa from 300 hPa to 1000 hPa

Sensor features small size, high stability, and easy fabrication

Abstract

In this study, we propose a microfiber waveguide for temperature and air pressure measurement. To improve mechanical strength of the sensor, a C-shaped fiber is sandwiches between two single mode fibers (SMFs) by fusion splice. The microfiber waveguide is 3D printed between two SMFs to connect two fiber cores by two-photon polymerization technology. Due to multimode property of this printed waveguide, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is obtained. This sensor exhibits a high temperature sensitivity of 361 pm/{\deg}C at 25{\deg}C to 45{\deg}C and a high air pressure sensitivity of 55 pm/kPa from 300hpa to 1000hpa. The MZI sensor features significant advantages such as small size, high stability, and easy fabrication, without the need for complex post-processing, showing great potential and broad application prospects in many sensing applications.