Multifunctional optical fiber sensor for simultaneous measurement of temperature and salinity.

A multifunctional optical fiber sensor fabricated by asymmetric offset splicing is proposed in this Letter. The light is divided into several parts at the offset interface, among which the transmitted light forms the Mach-Zehnder interference (MZI) spectrum while the reflected light forms the Fabry-Perot interference (FPI) spectrum. The online monitoring system is built to create a better light distribution at the offset interface. Theoretical analysis and experimental verification are carried out. The results of the experiment show that the proposed sensor has good characteristics of salinity and temperature, and the salinity sensitivity is as high as -2.4473nm/‰ in the range of 20-40‰; the temperature sensitivity is better than 2.17 nm/°C in the range of 28-48 °C. The two interferometers involved have different responses to temperature and salinity, contributing to the effective elimination of cross-sensitivity. The proposed optical fiber sensor has the benefits of compact size, high sensitivity, and multispectral measurement function.