Magneto-optical fiber sensor based on bandgap effect of photonic crystal fiber infiltrated with magnetic fluid

A magnetic field sensor based on combination of the magnetic fluid and the tunable photonic bandgap effect of photonic crystal fiber is proposed. The magnetic fluid with higher refractive index (> 1.45) is prepared and filled into the air-holes of photonic crystal fiber to convert the index guiding fiber into photonic bandgap fiber. The proposed sensor takes full advantage of the ultrahigh sensitivity characteristic of photonic bandgap fiber and achieves a high sensitivity and resolution of 1.56 nm/Oe and 0.0064Oe, respectively, which are 2-3 orders of magnitude better than other sensors based on magnetic fluid. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4772017]