Special Issue 'Optical Fibres and Their Applications'

Theorem of comparative sensitivity of fibre sensors

M. I. Belovolov, V. M. Paramonov, M. M. Belovolov

Fiber Optics Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

Abstract: We report an analysis of sensitivity of fibre sensors of physical quantities based on different types of interferometers. We formulate and prove the following theorem: under the time-dependent external physical perturbations at nonzero frequencies (i.e., except the static and low-frequency ones) on the sensitive arms of an interferometer in the form of multiturn elements (coils), there exist such lengths L of the measuring arms of the fibre interferometers at which the sensitivity of sensors based on the Sagnac fibre interferometers can be comparable with the sensitivity of sensors based on Michelson, Mach–Zehnder, or Fabry–Perot fibre interferometers, as well as exceed it under similar other conditions (similar-type perturbations, similar arm lengths and single-mode fibre types). The consequences that follow from the theorem, important for practical implementation of arrays of fibre sensors for measurement purposes and the devices with stable metrological properties, are discussed.

Keywords: fibre-optic sensor, fibre interferometer, Sagnac interferometer, Michelson interferometer, sensitivity, transform function.

Received: 24.10.2017

 English version: Quantum Electronics, 2017, 47:12, 1128–1134

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