Fiber optic pressure sensing method based on Sagnac interferometer

Pressure method using polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PM-PCF) as sensing element based on Sagnac interferometer is proposed to monitor inter layer pressure in especial compact structure. Sensing model is analyzed and test system is set up, which is validated by experiment. The birefringence can be modified by the deformation of PM-PCF under transverse pressure, realizing pressure measurement by detecting the wavelength shift of one specific valley from output of the Sagnac interferometer. The experiment results show that the output interference fringes were shifted linearly with pressure. The dynamic range of 0 kN ~10kN, sensing precision of 2.6%, and pressure sensitivity of 0.4414nm/kN are achieved, and the strain relaxation phenomenon of cushion can be observed obviously. The sensor has better engineering practicability and capability to restrain interference brought up by fluctuation of environment temperature, which temperature sensitivity is -11.8pm/°C.