A reflectometric optical fiber temperature sensor

A reflectometric fiber-optic temperature sensor was manufactured and characterized. The sensing probe is obtained by replacing the cladding with a temperature sensitive liquid on a short length of fiber. Its reduced dimensions make it suitable for monitoring applications whenever a high spatial resolution is required. A numerical modeling of the sensor, based on a ray-tracing technique, was carried out. The metrological performance of the first prototype seems to be very interesting in terms of accuracy and, above all, response time. A system for multipoint temperature measurements is also described.