A simple vibration sensor is proposed and demonstrated based on an optical fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) with an in-fiber collimator. The device was fabricated by splicing a quarter-pitch graded index fiber (GIF) with a section of a hollow-core fiber (HCF) interposed between single mode fibers (SMFs). The static displacement sensitivity of the FPI with an in-fiber collimator was 5.17 × 10-4 μm-1, whereas the maximum static displacement sensitivity of the device without collimator was 1.73 × 10-4 μm-1. Moreover, the vibration sensitivity of the FPI with the collimator was 60.22 mV/g at 100 Hz, which was significantly higher than the sensitivity of the FPI without collimator (11.09 mV/g at 100 Hz). The proposed FPI with an in-fiber collimator also exhibited a vibration sensitivity nearly one order of magnitude higher than the device without the collimator at frequencies ranging from 40 to 200 Hz. This low-cost FPI sensor is highly-sensitive, robust and easy to fabricate. It could potentially be used for vibration monitoring in remote and harsh environments.
Keywords: Fabry-Perot interferometer; fiber vibration sensor; graded index fiber.