A novel intensity demodulated refractive index (RI) sensor is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated based on the front-tapered single-mode-multimode-single-mode (FT-SMS) fiber structure. The front taper is fabricated in a section of multimode fiber by flame-heated drawing technique. The intensity feature in the taper area is analyzed through the beam propagation method and the comprehensive tests are then conducted in terms of RI and temperature. The experimental results show that, in FT-SMS, the relative sensitivity is -342.815 dB/RIU in the range of 1.33~1.37. The corresponding resolution reaches 2.92 × 10-5 RIU, which is more than four times higher than that in wavelength demodulation. The temperature sensitivity is 0.307 dB/°C and the measurement error from cross-sensitivity is less than 2 × 10-4. In addition, fabricated RI sensor presents high stability in terms of wavelength (±0.045 nm) and intensity (±0.386 dB) within 2 h of continuous operation.
Keywords: SMS; fiber refractive index sensor; intensity demodulation; modal interference; taper.