High sensitivity refractive index sensors with different no-core fiber diameters

Abstract

We investigate refractive index (RI) sensors using no-core fibers with diameters of 250 µm, 125 µm, and 62.5 µm. Experiments show that RI sensors with sizes of 62.5 µm and 250 µm are more sensitive than those with a diameter of 125 µm. The maximum RI sensitivity was 4886 nm/RIU. The RI sensor has a high sensitivity, a wide measurement range, and is insensitive to temperature, making it well-suited for a variety of practical applications.

Keywords:

• Fiber optic sensor
• no-core fiber
• refractive index measurement
• self-focusing

Authors’ contribution

Chi Li: Data curation (equal); Investigation (equal); Writing original draft (equal). Wenbiao Zhou: Data curation (equal); Investigation (equal); Form analysis (equal); Software (equal). Changning Liu: Methodology (lead); Project administration (lead); Writing original draft (equal); Writing review & editing (equal).

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that influenced the work reported in this article.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge support from National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (12304281), the Key Project of Hubei Provincial Natural Science Joint Fund (2024CFB480), Hubei Normal University Provincial Key Laboratory Open Fund (PMD202413). Program for Hubei Normal University Graduate Education and Teaching Reform Research Key Project (2023JY02), Hubei Normal University Education and Teaching Reform and Research Project (2023071), Hubei Normal University National Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (202310513001, 202310513025).