A singlemode-multimode-singlemode (SMS) fiber structure consists of a short section of multimode fiber fusion-spliced between two SMS fibers. The mechanism underpinning the operation of an SMS fiber structure is multimode interference and associated self-imaging. SMS structures can be used in a variety of optical fiber systems but are most commonly used as sensors for a variety of parameters, ranging from macro-world measurands such as temperature, strain, vibration, flow rate, RI and humidity to the micro-world with measurands such as proteins, pathogens, DNA, and specific molecules. While traditional SMS structures employ a short section of standard multimode fiber, a large number of structures have been investigated and demonstrated over the last decade involving the replacement of the multimode fiber section with alternatives such as a hollow core fiber or a tapered fiber. The objective of replacing the multimode fiber has most often been to allow sensing of different measurands or to improve sensitivity. In this paper, several different categories of SMS fiber structures, including traditional SMS, modified SMS and tapered SMS fiber structures are discussed with some theoretical underpinning and reviews of a wide variety of sensing examples and recent advances. The paper then summarizes and compares the performances of a variety of sensors which have been published under a number of headings. The paper concludes by considering the challenges faced by SMS based sensing schemes in terms of their deployment in real world applications and discusses possible future developments of SMS fiber sensors.

A simple, cost effective high-temperature sensor (up to 1000 °C) based on a hollow core fiber (HCF) structure is reported. It is configured by fusion splicing a short section of HCF with a length of few millimeters between two standard single mode fibers (SMF-28). Due to multiple beam interference introduced by the cladding of the HCF, periodic transmission dips with high spectral extinction ratio and high-quality (Q) factor are excited. However, theoretical analysis shows that minor variations of the HCF cladding diameter may result in a significant decrease in the Q factor. Experimental results demonstrate that the position of periodic transmission dips are independent of the HCF length, but spectral Q factors and transmission power varies with different HCF lengths. A maximum Q factor of 3.3 × 10 ⁴ has been demonstrated with large free spectral range of 23 nm and extinction ratio of 26 dB. Furthermore, the structure is proved to be an excellent high-temperature sensor with advantages of high sensitivity (up to 33.4 pm/ °C), wide working temperature range (from room temperature to 1000 °C), high resolution, good stability, repeatability, relatively low strain sensitivity (0.46 pm/με), low cost, and a simple and flexible fabrication process that offers a great potential for practical applications. A thorough theoretic analysis of the HCF-based fiber structure has been proposed. The experimental results are demonstrated to be well matched with our simulation results.

Liquid level measurement in lab on a chip (LOC) devices is a challenging task due to the demand for a sensor with ultra-high resolution but miniature in nature. In this Letter, we report a simple, compact in size, yet highly sensitive liquid level sensor based on a hollow core fiber (HCF) structure. The sensor is fabricated by fusion splicing a short section of HCF between two singlemode fibers (SMFs). Sensor samples with different lengths of HCF have been studied; it is found that the sensor with a HCF length of $\sim 4.73\mathrm{mm}$ shows the best sensitivity of $\sim 0.014\mathrm{dB}/\mathrm{\mu m}$, corresponding to a liquid level resolution of $\sim 0.7\mathrm{\mu m}$, which is over five times higher than that of the previous reported fiber optic sensors to date. In addition, experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed sensor shows good repeatability of measurement and a very low cross sensitivity to changes in the refractive index of the surrounding medium.

In microfluidic chips applications, the monitoring of the rate and the direction of a microfluidic flow is very important. Here, we demonstrate a liquid flow rate and a direction sensor using a partially gold-coated tilted fiber Bragg grating (TFBG) as the sensing element. Wavelength shifts and amplitude changes of the TFBG transmission resonances in the near infrared reveal the direction of the liquid flowing along the fiber axis in the vicinity of the TFBG due to a nanoscale gold layer over part of the TFBG. For a device length of 10 mm (and a diameter of 125 µm for easy insertion into microfluidic channels), the flow rates and the direction can be detectable unequivocally. The TFBG waveguiding properties allow such devices to function in liquids with refractive indices ranging from 1.33 to about 1.40. In addition, the proposed sensor can be made inherently temperature-insensitive by referencing all wavelengths to the wavelength of the core mode resonance of the grating, which is isolated from the fiber surroundings.

An ultra-compact in-core-parallel-written fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) for simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature is described. The FBG and MZI are written spatially parallel in the same section of fiber core using a femtosecond laser, forming an ultra-compact device, which is different from the previously developed axial cascade of different structures. Due to the weak coupling between the FBG and the MZI, their individual extinction ratios are traded off by optimizing their writing position and separation, and extinction ratios of 5.9 dB for the FBG and 10 dB for the MZI are achieved. Experimental results show that the FBG and MZI have different sensitivities for strain and temperature, allowing this device to measure strain and temperature simultaneously. In addition, since both the FBG and MZI are written in the fiber core, this ultra-compact device is proven to be impervious to ambient humidity, making it a promising candidate for accurate industrial strain and temperature measurements.