Temperature measuring is a daily procedure carried out worldwide in practically all environments of human activity, but it takes particular relevance in industrial, scientific, medical, and food processing and production areas. The characteristics and performance of the temperature sensors required for such a large universe of applications have opened the opportunity for a comprehensive range of technologies and architectures capable of fulfilling the sensitivity, resolution, dynamic range, and response time demanded. In this work, a highly sensitive fiber optic temperature sensor based on a double-cavity Fabry-Perot interferometer (DCFPI) is proposed and demonstrated. Taking advantage of the Vernier effect, we demonstrate that it is possible to improve the temperature sensitivity exhibited by the polymer-capped fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (PCFPI) up to 39.8 nm/°C. The DCFPI is sturdy, reconfigured, and simple to fabricate, consisting of a semi-spherical polymer cap added to the surface of the ferrule of a commercial single-mode fiber connector (SMF FC/PC) placed in front of a mirror at a proper distance. The length of the air cavity (L_air) was adjusted to equal the thickness of the polymer cap (L_pol) plus a distance δ to generate the most convenient Vernier effect spectrum. The DCFPI was packaged in a machined, movable mount that allows the adjustment of the air cavity length easily but also protects the polymer cap and simplifies the manipulation of the sensor head.

Attaching sensitive materials to the tip of an optical fiber has been a successful strategy, extensively used to develop selective and highly sensitive sensors. In this work, we demonstrate tha,t it is possible to enlarge up to 9 times the displacement dynamic range of an extrinsic fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) by adding a semi-spherical polymer cap to the end-face of a single-mode fiber (SMF) FC/PC connector. Using a single modified EFPI and taking advantage of the Vernier effect displacement measurements with subnanometer resolution, it is demonstrated.