Thermal performance of metal-clad fiber Bragg grating sensors

We demonstrate the higher temperature sensitivity of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor when it is clad with a metal of a large thermal expansion coefficient. With lead (solder) cladding, the sensitivity of Bragg wavelength shift can be enhanced by about five (four) times. A theoretical model was adopted to show quite consistent results. It was found that thermal annealing was crucial for preparing high-quality fiber Bragg grating sensors with metal claddings.