We review exceptional properties of the photonic crystal fibres enabling sensing applications of this new class of fibres. First, the sensing capabilities of highly birefringent index guided fibres are discussed. This includes dispersion characteristics of phase and group modal birefringence in different fibre structures, and sensitivity of these parameters to hydrostatic pressures and temperature. We demonstrate that index guided and photonic bandgap holey fibres of specific construction can be used as wide-band fibre-optic polarizer. We also show that combining of geometrical and stress effects makes it possible to design the holey fibres with either zero phase or group modal birefringence at virtually any given wavelength. Finally, different designs and performance of PCFs suitable for gas sensing are overviewed.

Date Published: 2 July 2007
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 6619, Third European Workshop on Optical Fibre Sensors, 66190G (2 July 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.738353

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6619:
Third European Workshop on Optical Fibre Sensors
Antonello Cutolo; Brian Culshaw; José Miguel López-Higuera, Editor(s)