Performance analysis for temperature-compensated white-light interferometric fiber sensors

The behaviour of a temperature-compensated white-light interferometric sensor composed of sensing, compensating, linking and receiving interferometers was analyzed. Analytical expressions for contrasts of all interference patterns which may occur at the receiving interferometer as a function of coupling coefficients between successive interferometers were derived. From these, we were able to find the optimal alignment of the system, to determine alignment errors from the contrasts of noise patterns observed at the receiving interferometer, and to propose a simple alignment procedure. Two cases were analyzed, one with a dichroic, the other with a nondichroic linking interferometer.