Valentin GUZMAN-RAMOS, Daniel E. CEBALLOS-HERRERA^*, and Romeo SELVAS-AGUILAR

Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, Av. Universidad S/N, Cd. Universitaria, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, México

(Received November 14, 2013; Revised January 19, 2014; Accepted February 4, 2014)

We present a numerical analysis of the response of arc-induced long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) under ambient refractive-index changes using standard fibers with SiO₂ as cladding material and different GeO₂ concentration in the SiO₂–GeO₂ doped core. We obtain that the LPFG-sensitivity is increased using lower GeO₂ concentrations and it follows a parabolic behavior. Also, we identify two linear regimes using an external index of 1.37: for GeO₂ concentrations between 2 and 3.5 mol %, the LPFG-sensitivity changes with a rate of 3.614 nm per mole fraction of GeO₂, while for higher concentrations the sensitivity changes with a rate of 1.39 nm/mol %. Additionally, for fibers with 2 mol % of GeO₂, the sensitivity calculated is comparable to this obtained in previous works using corrugated and tapered LPFGs in SMF28 fibers. These results are of interest for the design of improved LPFG-sensors.

Key words: long-period fiber gratings, GeO₂ concentration, refractive index measurement

^*E-mail address: de.ceballos.herrera@gmail.com