Simultaneous strain and temperature sensing using a slightly tapered optical fiber with an inner cavity.

An ultracompact optical fiber mode interferometer capable of performing simultaneous strain and temperature sensing is demonstrated. The device is fabricated by using femtosecond laser micromachining together with fusion splicing techniques and followed by a tapering process. The transmission spectrum of the device exhibits a number of resonance wavelength dips, corresponding to different orders of cladding mode, which allow simultaneous strain and temperature sensing by monitoring the variation of selected two wavelength dips. The sensitivity achieved is -16.12 pm με(-1) and 85.95 pm °C(-1) for strain and temperature, respectively. The device has a spatially precise sensing capability owing to the small size of the inner air-cavity.