Optical microfiber sensors for the detection of current pulses

Abstract

Issues and benefits of using optical microfibers for current sensing are discussed.
1. Introduction
Current sensors exploiting the Faraday Effect in optical fibers [1] have attracted considerable interest because of their robustness and configurability, thus compatibility with remote sensing. Yet, in conventional optical fibers the minimization of bending losses results in a large sensor size (typically in excess of ~10cm). Moreover, as optical fibers exhibit small responsivities to currents, long lengths of fiber have to be deployed in a single sensor. Since the sensor response time is related to the light time of flight into the sensing device, long lengths of fiber are associated with response times longer than ms. Since 2003, when Tong and co-workers demonstrated that optical microfibers (OMs) can have low propagation losses [2] and therefore can be used to manufactured devices, OMs have been proposed for a wealth of sensing applications [3]. Because of their reduced size, OM coils [4] and coil resonators [5] have found application in current sensing, with mm size sensors being demonstrated. In this paper the use of OMs for current sensing is reviewed, with an analysis of its benefits and potential issues.

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Identifiers

ORCID for T. Lee: orcid.org/0000-0001-9665-5578

ORCID for Mohammad Belal: orcid.org/0000-0001-5175-3158

ORCID for G. Brambilla: orcid.org/0000-0002-5730-0499

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