Theoretical investigation on the temperature characteristics of liquid-cladding micro/nanofiber Bragg grating

Abstract

Based on the functions of the effective refractive index of fundamental mode in step-index fiber, a theoretical mode about the Bragg wavelength shift of micro/nanofiber Bragg grating (MNFBG) is presented. The numerical simulation results demonstrate, for a MNFBG with given radius, the Bragg wavelength shifts to short wavelength as ambient temperature increases, and the reason results from the effective index decreasing with the increase of ambient temperature. Moreover, with the reduction of fiber-core radius, as well as the increase of ambient index and its thermo-optic coefficient, the temperature sensitivity, linearity and linear response range of the temperature-dependent Bragg wavelength shift are improved obviously. Especially for a MNFBG with fiber radius smaller than 0.5 μm, the linearity of Bragg wavelength shifting with temperature will be close to the theoretical limit, and the temperature sensitivity is proportional to the thermo-optic coefficient of the ambient liquid. Compared with the temperature properties of conventional fiber Bragg grating (FBG), all the results will provide much theoretical guides for FBG applied in fiber sensing and communication.

Keywords:

• micro/nanofiber Bragg grating (MNFBG)
• temperature
• thermo-optic effect
• refractive index
• numerical simulation

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 61240028], and the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China [Program No. 2013JM8032].