Influence of the waist diameters on transmission characteristics and strain sensitivity of microtapered long-period fiber gratings.

Transmission characteristics of microtapered long-period fiber gratings (MTLPGs) and their strain and temperature sensitivities with variations in the waist diameters are investigated theoretically and experimentally. Transmission characteristics of MTLPGs strongly depend on the waist diameter of the tapered optical fiber (TOF) because of the modification of the effective index difference between the core and the cladding modes. Based on the photoelastic effect, the resonant wavelengths of MTLPGs with variations in strain shift to shorter wavelengths. The strain sensitivity of the MTLPG with a waist diameter of 25 mu m is improved by a factor of 20 compared with that of a 125 mu m long-period fiber grating. The temperature sensitivities of MTLPGs are also enhanced by reducing the waist diameter of the TOF. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America