Multimode interference refractive index sensor based on coreless fiber

A multimode interference refractive index (RI) sensor based on the coreless fiber was numerically and experimentally demonstrated. Two identical single mode fibers (SMF) are spliced at both ends of a section of the coreless fiber which can be considered as the equivalent weakly guiding multimode fiber (MMF) with a step-index profile when the surrounding refractive index (SRI) is lower than that of the coreless fiber. Thus, it becomes the conventional single-mode multimode single-mode (SMS) fiber structure but with a larger core size. The output spectra will shift along with the changes in the SRI owing to the direct exposure of the coreless fiber. The output spectra under different SRIs were numerically studied, as well as the sensitivities with different lengths and diameters of the coreless fiber. The predication and calculation showed the good agreement with the experimental results. The proposed RI sensor proved to be feasible by verification experiments, and the relative error was merely 0.1% which occupied preferable sensing performance and practicability.