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An Optical Fiber Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer based Displacement Sensor with Centimeter Measurement Range
Proceedings of SPIE, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2018
  • Chen Zhu
  • Jie Huang, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

A low-cost and robust extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) based optical fiber displacement sensor with a wide measurement range, up to cm level, is reported in this paper. A gold-coated reflective mirror fixed inside the metal shell of the sensor, together with the endface of a single mode fiber form a Fabry-Perot cavity. The optical fiber is supported and oriented by a fiber ceramic ferrule, and the sensor is packaged and protected by a metal shell. A triangle geometry based displacement transfer mechanism is employed in the constructed sensor which makes the sensor capable of measuring wide-range displacement, and this triangle geometry based structure allows the measurement range of the sensor to be flexibly adjusted. When the measurement handgrip of the sensor experiences a displacement, the cavity length will change due to the triangle geometry design. By tracking the change in the reflection spectrum, the displacement can be determined. The experimental results show that a displacement measurement sensitivity of 42.68 nm/μm (change in EFPI cavity length/displacement magnitude) over a measurement range of 2.0 cm was achieved by the constructed prototype sensor. The present wide-range displacement sensor with low cost, high robustness has a great potential in the chemical-oil industry, the construction industry.

Meeting Name
SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring (2018: Mar. 5-8, Denver, CO)
Department(s)
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Center/Lab(s)
Intelligent Systems Center
Keywords and Phrases
  • Construction industry,
  • Fabry-Perot interferometers,
  • Fiber optic sensors,
  • Geometry,
  • Gold coatings,
  • Optical fibers,
  • Single mode fibers,
  • Displacement,
  • Displacement sensor,
  • Dynamic range,
  • Extrinsic Fabry Perot interferometer,
  • Fabry-Perot cavity,
  • Optical fiber displacement,
  • Reflection spectra,
  • Transfer mechanisms,
  • Displacement measurement,
  • Cm dynamic range,
  • Extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
978-151061692-9
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2018 SPIE, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
3-1-2018
Publication Date
01 Mar 2018
Citation Information
Chen Zhu and Jie Huang. "An Optical Fiber Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometer based Displacement Sensor with Centimeter Measurement Range" Proceedings of SPIE, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2018 Vol. 10598 (2018) ISSN: 0277-786X; 1996-756X
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jie-huang/107/