Optical Fiber Fabry-Perot Interferometry

Fiber Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometry is one of the most important tools for harsh environment sensing because of its great flexibility of sensor material selection, superior long-term stability, and nature of remote passive operation. Virginia Tech's Center for Photonics Technology has been involved in the research of this field for many years. After a quick review of the typical methods for the construction of F-P sensors, emphasis will be placed on the whitelight interferometry, which is perhaps the most robust interferometric sensor demodulation technique today. The recent discovery of an additional phase will be presented and its significance to the sensor demodulation will be discussed.