Intrinsic fiber-optic Fabry-Perot interferometer based on arc discharge and single-mode fiber

We propose a simple intrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) based on single-mode fiber, where a thin film is formed by arc discharge to serve as one mirror of the FPI cavity. The temperature and refractive-index (RI) characteristics of the proposed device are investigated. Experimental results show that the device can provide temperature-independent measurement of RI with a fringe-contrast sensitivity of similar to 72.59 dB/RIU (RI units). Meanwhile, it can also be used as a temperature sensor with a wavelength sensitivity of similar to 8 pm/degrees C. Therefore, the potential simultaneous measurement of RI and temperature could be realized by detecting the variations of fringe contrast and wavelength, respectively. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America