PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | February 23, 2009
Proc. SPIE. 7278, Photonics and Optoelectronics Meetings (POEM) 2008: Fiber Optic Communication and Sensors
KEYWORDS: Optical fibers, Refractive index, Gas sensors, Photonic crystal fibers, Cladding, Sensors, Fiber optics sensors, Optical communications, Sensor technology, Optics manufacturing
With the development of optical fiber manufacture and optical fiber sensor technology, more
and more attention is paid to the photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensors, such as gas sensors, bend
sensors and strain sensors. Especially, the bend character of PCF is very important for designing
bend sensors. In this paper, we adopt the multipole method to study the bend character of Total
Internal Reflection PCF (TIR-PCF), and the relationship between bend radius and bend loss of
TIR-PCF is investigated theoretically. As a result, the bend loss of PCF will be variable according
to bend radius and it is also different with the same bend radius as the TIR-PCF structure
parameter is different. Furthermore, the bend stress distribution on the TIR-PCF is analyzed
carefully, and the minimum endurable bend radius is given. The simulation result in this paper will
provide primary references for the PCF bend sensors designing.
