In-line fiber-optic sensor based multi-core fiber for simultaneous transverse pressure and temperature sensing

An in-line Mach-Zehnder interferometer(MZI) sensor was proposed and experimentally demonstrated for simultaneously measuring transverse pressure and temperature. The MZI is fabricated by simply splicing the two ends of a segment multicore fiber (MCF) with two short sections of multimode fibers (MMFs) using a commercial fusion splicer. The transverse pressure and temperature characteristics of the sensor have been investigated in experiment. The results show that the transmission spectra shift when the external transverse pressure and temperature variation, and different spectral responses of the resonant dips are observed, which indicates that the sensor can realize simultaneous transverse pressure and temperature measurement by monitoring the wavelength changes of two resonant dips. The obtained sensitivities can reach up to 112pm/N and 43pmm/degrees C, respectively.The proposed sensor has the potential application in the fields where both temperature and transverse pressure measurments are required.