Simultaneous Measurement of External Refractive Index and Temperature by Using a Side-polished Fiber Bragg Grating with a Polymer Overlay

A hybrid grating sensing device based on a side-polished fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with a polymer overlay is proposed for simultaneous measurement of external refractive index and temperature. The side-polished FBG, which is insensitive to ambient index change, is utilized for detecting temperature variation, and the polymer overlay is coated on the side-polished FBG for measurement of ambient index change. The temperature sensitivities of the side-polished FBG and the polymer overlay were measured to be 0.01 nm/degrees C and -0.58 nm/degrees C, respectively, in a temperature range from 30 degrees C to 100 degrees C. The ambient index sensitivities of the polymer overlay were measured to be 498.8 nm/RIU in an ambient index range from 1.33 to 1.39, 694.9 nm/RIU from 1.39 to 1.42, and 1312 nm/RIU from 1.42 to 1.44.