INFLUENCE OF DISPERSION ON SENSITIVITY OF HIGHLY BIREFRINGENT FIBERS TO TEMPERATURE AND HYDROSTATIC-PRESSURE

The influence of dispersion on the sensitivity of highly birefringent fibers to temperature and hydrostatic pressure was experimentally inve stigated. In fibers with geometric birefringence that shows high dispe rsion, great differences were observed between group and phase sensiti vities to temperature and hydrostatic pressure. This difference may re ach 400% in the case of temperature response. In contrast, in weakly d ispersive fibers with stress-induced birefringence these differences w ere of the order of 8% and 14%, respectively, for temperature and pres sure. The influence of the dispersion effect on the temperature compen sation of white-light interferometric sensors based on highly birefrin gent fibers was also discussed. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.