Etched multimode fiber Bragg gratings based refractometer

A Multimode Fiber Bragg Gratings for refractive index sensing has been demonstrated experimentally. The fabrication of Bragg gratings in the Standard step-index multimode fiber with a core diameter of 50 μm and a numerical aperture of 0.20 is carried out by phase mask method. The period of the phase mask is 1064 nm. The etching of cladding portion of grating region (2 cm) is carried out by Hydrofluoric acid (48%) for 15 minutes. The etching process causes reduction of cladding diameter by 55 μm which further enhances the interaction of light propagating in core mode with higher cladding modes. Solutions of varied concentrations of glycerol were prepared having corresponding refractive index. Shift in wavelength in the reflection peak of high-order mode L1 is observed when glycerol solution is passed over the cladding surface of grating region. The proposed sensor with 1-pm resolution was successfully employed for sensing of different glycerol solutions. The sensitivity of proposed sensor is 15000 pm/RIU and it can be used as potential sensing platform for bio-chemical applications.