Micro Fabry-Perot interferometers in silica fibers machined by femtosecond laser.

Micro Fabry-Perot (F-P) interferometers (MFPIs) are machined in a single-mode fiber (SMF) and a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) by using a near-infrared femtosecond laser, respectively. The strain and temperature characteristics of the two MFPIs with an identical cavity length are investigated and the experimental results show that the strain sensitivity of the PCF-based MFPI is smaller than that of the SMF-based MFPI due to their different waveguide structures, while the two MFPIs have close temperature sensitivities due to their similar host materials. These MFPIs in silica fibers are compact, stable, inexpensive, capable for mass-production and easy fabrication, offering great potentials for wide sensing applications.