Phase sensitivity of hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber to internal gas pressure

Phase sensitivity of the fundamental mode of hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber to gas pressure applied internally to its core is investigated. The measured phase sensitivity for a 95-cm-long fiber is 9.92 rad/kPa, over two orders of magnitude higher than that to external pressure. The large phase sensitivity is attributed mainly to the pressure-induced refractive index change of air inside the fiber core. Such an effect may be exploited for high sensitivity pressure sensing and biochemical and environmental process analysis involving pressure variations.