Simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain using a long-period fiber grating with a micro-taper

An all-fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) consisting of a long-period fiber grating with a micro-taper is proposed for simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain. The experimental results demonstrate that the temperature and strain sensitivities of the proposed MZI are 83 pm/°C and −2.6 pm/με, respectively. The strain sensitivity is 20 times as high as that of a long-period fiber written by CO2 laser pulses combined with a fiber bitaper. In addition, the interferometer requires only a common single-mode fiber, and it is easy to fabricate and is inexpensive for temperature and strain sensing applications.