In this paper, a novel D-shaped photonic crystal fiber sensor for simultaneous measurements of magnetic field and temperature is proposed and characterized. Based on the surface plasmon resonance theory, the D-shaped flat surface coated with a gold layer is in direct contact with magnetic fluid to detect magnetic field, and one of the relatively small air holes near the fiber core is filled with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to sense temperature. The realization of measuring the magnetic field and temperature separately through two channels depends on the fact that the magnetic field only changes the refractive index of the magnetic fluid, but has no effect on the refractive index of PDMS. The refractive index of the magnetic fluid and PDMS can be affected by temperature at the same time. The sensor designed in this work can separate the variations of the magnetic field and temperature simultaneously, therefore solving the cross-sensitivity problem to further improve the magnetic field sensitivity. When the thickness of the gold film is 50 nm and the radius of the filling hole is 0.52 µm, the magnetic field sensitivity and the temperature sensitivity of magnetic field sensor based on temperature self-reference can reach 0.14274 nm/Oe and −0.229 nm/°C, respectively.

A strain sensor based on cascaded Sagnac loops with two polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fibers (PMPCFs) has been experimentally demonstrated. Air holes distributed on the cross section of PMPCF go through the whole fiber, which makes the special fiber more sensitive to ambient force compared with conventional optical fiber. The lengths of the two PMPCFs are close, but not the same, to form envelopes on the total output spectrum and then obtain high resolution to the detected parameter by the Vernier effect. The influences of the difference in length of the two PMPCFS on spectral envelopes are discussed. As the length of the PMPCF in reference loop increases, free spectrum range of the cascaded Sagnac loops (or envelope period) and magnification decrease. The sensitivities of this strain sensor are calculated by tracking upper and lower envelopes. Results reveal that its average sensitivity is up to 45.15 pm/ $\mu \varepsilon $ and the corresponding resolution is $0.44~\mu \varepsilon $ as strain varies from 0 to $2000~\mu \varepsilon $ . Compared with a single Sagnac loop, the sensitivity magnification is about 28.94. The sensing characteristics of a conventional polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) are studied to compare with the PMPCF. Moreover, reversibility has also been proved to possess low error rate. In short, the fiber strain sensor possesses high sensitivity and great reversibility.

In this paper, the sensing characteristics of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) Sagnac interferometer based on flat-phase birefringence, zero-group birefringence and the Vernier effect have been studied. The temperature-sensitive liquid is filled into the air holes of the PCF. We realize flat-phase birefringence, by which the sensitivity can reach 4.9 nm/°C and 3.5 nm/°C. We find a new phenomenon in that there are more interference fringes appearing near the zero-group-birefringence wavelength with the environment changing. Highly sensitive sensors with −19.9 nm/°C and 28.6 nm/°C are obtained. We also demonstrate that two cascaded Sagnac interferometers based on PCF can realize the Vernier effect. The sensitivities are 1 nm/°C (single Sagnac interferometer) and 10.4 nm/°C (cascaded Sagnac interferometers), and the sensitivity is improved by more than 10 times. The sensitivity is inversely proportional to the difference between free spectral range (FSR) ₁ and FSR ₂ , and the highest sensitivity reaches 23.2 nm/°C (−58 500 nm/RIU, resolution: 3.419× 10 ⁻⁷ RIU) by optimizing the PCF length in Sagnac interferometer 2. The average sensitivity based on two cascaded PCF Sagnac interferometers is up to −309 957 nm/RIU and the resolution is 6.453× 10 ⁻⁸ RIU as the refractive index of the analyte varies from 1.33 to 1.331, which is very competitive in the field of chemical sensing.

The electrically sensing characteristics of a liquid-crystal (LC)-infiltrated polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PCF) have been studied. The small holes on the end face of the fiber collapse and two large holes remain open by controlling discharging-time, -current, and -position of a fiber splicer, then LC is selectively infiltrated into the two large holes, which can not only save LC but also make the welding between the LC-infiltrated polarization-maintaining PCF and single-mode fiber much easier. A new method to weld the two fibers is proposed by filling and volatilizing ethanol to make LC a few millimeters away from the end face which can improve the sensing system stability and prevent the discharge of a fiber splicer from destroying LC molecules. A Sagnac interferometer is set up by embedding the LC-infiltrated polarization-maintaining PCF in a fiber loop and then its electroresponse characteristics are studied. The refractive-index distribution of the LC-infiltrated polarization-maintaining PCF varies with electric voltage due to the variable index of LC, which makes it possible to detect voltage. Three voltage ranges are discussed by the different dips and the sensitivity is improved with voltage increasing. The high sensitivity is up to 3.49 nm/V with the tuning range of 7 nm as voltage changes from 149.67 to 151.61 V. The Sagnac interferometer embedded with an LC-infiltrated polarization-maintaining PCF can be utilized as a voltage sensor, electro-optical modulator, or filter.

Nanomechanical measurements, especially the detection of weak contact forces, play a vital role in many fields, such as material science, micromanipulation, and mechanobiology. However, it remains a challenging task to realize the measurement of ultraweak force levels as low as nanonewtons with a simple sensing configuration. In this work, an ultrasensitive all-fiber nanonewton force sensor structure based on a single-mode–tapered U-shape multimode–single-mode fiber probe is proposed and experimentally demonstrated with a limit of detection of ~5.4 nanonewtons. The use of the sensor is demonstrated by force measurement on a human hair sample to determine the spring constant of the hair. The results agree well with measurements using an atomic force microscope for the spring constant of the hair. Compared with other force sensors based on optical fiber in the literature, the proposed all-fiber force sensor provides a substantial advancement in the minimum detectable force possible, with the advantages of a simple configuration, ease of fabrication, and low cost.