Overview of fiber grating-based sensors

Optical fiber sensor technology based on intra-core Bragg gratings has been used in a number of important application areas ranging from structural monitoring to chemical sensing. Practical and cost effective systems are not far in the future judging from advances in grating manufacture and sensor readout instrumentation. Fiber grating technology is not driven by its use in sensors but rather by valuable applications in dense, broadband WDM telecommunications. In this paper, we review the fundamentals of Bragg grating sensors and discuss various means for wavelength-shift demodulation, separation of temperature and strain responses and new directions that will offer additional capabilities.