Strain-insensitive micro torsion and temperature sensor based on a helical taper seven-core fiber structure

We propose a multimode interference-based optical fiber NHTSN sensor with a helical taper for simultaneous measurement of micro torsion and temperature. The sensor consists of single mode fiber (SMF), no-core fiber (NCF), and seven-core fiber (SCF). A helical taper is fabricated in the SCF using a flame heater, forming the SMF-NCF-Helical Taper SCF-NCF-SMF (NHTSN) structure. Theoretical analysis and experimental results demonstrate that the introduction of helical taper not only imparts directionality to the torsion measurement, but also results in a significant improvement in torsion sensitivity due to the increased inter-mode optical path difference (OPD) and enhanced inter-mode coupling. In the experiment, the torsion sensitivity of the NHTSN sensor reaches -1.255 nm/(rad/m) in the twist rate (TR) range of -3.931 rad/m to 3.931 rad/m, which is a 9-fold improvement over the original structure. Further reduction of the helical taper diameter increases the sensitivity to -1.690 nm/(rad/m). In addition, the sensor has a temperature sensitivity of up to 97 pm/°C from 20 °C to 90 °C, and simultaneous measurement of torsion and temperature is attainable through a dual-parameter measurement matrix. The NHTSN sensor possesses advantages of compact size, high sensitivity, good linearity, and strain-independence, endowing it with potential applications in structural health monitoring (SHM) and engineering machinery.