Received: 26 April 2018
DOI: 10.1002/mop.31532
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Torsion-dependent spectral
response of long-period fiber
grating based on electric arc
technique with axial rotation
of the fiber
Felipe Delgado | Alexandre Bessa
Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Juiz
de Fora, MG, Brazil
Correspondence
Felipe Delgado, Electrical Engineering Department, Federal University of
Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, MG 36036-330, Brazil.
Email: felipe.souza@engenharia.ufjf.br
Funding information
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior; Fundação
de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais; Instituto Nacional de
Energia Elétrica; Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora
Abstract
We present a novel technique for manufacturing a long-
period fiber grating (LPFG) with enhanced torsion sensi-
tivity based on electric arc technique. The proposed
method rotates the fiber around its axis of rotation at each
electric arc discharge. We experimentally investigated
the torsion-dependent spectral response of the produced
grating and the results showed that an enhanced linear
torsion sensitivity up to 0.197 nm/(rad/m) was achieved,
which is higher than that of the conventional arc-induced
LPFGs.
KEYWORDS
electric arc discharge, long-period fiber grating, torsion sensing
1 | INTRODUCTION
Over the years, numerous fiber-optic sensors based on long-
period fiber gratings (LPFGs) have been widely investigated
for applications as torsion sensors. Among them, some LPFG
torsion sensors are fabricated by ultraviolet (UV) laser
178 © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mop
irradiation,1 mechanical deformation,2 electric arc induced
perturbations,3 CO2 exposure method,4 and measurement of
torsion is achieved through the modulation of the radial shear
stress distribution induced within the optical fiber length
under torsion.5 The resonance wavelength shift of the LPFGs
produced by UV exposure and mechanical deformation
behaves in a parabolic manner with respect to the applied
mechanical torsion.1,2 Moreover, the response of arc-induced
LPFGs to torsion perturbation is quite weak,3 and for conven-
tional CO2 laser induced LPFGs, the resonance wavelength
shift is linear with the applied torsion, however, the torsion
sensitivity is relatively low.4 Some authors reported a pair of
rotary LPFGs incorporated a fiber ring laser,6 and recently,
distinct configurations of helical structures have been demon-
strated aiming higher torsion sensitivities.7–9 Different from
the torsion sensors based on helical structures, a segmented-
LPFG10 has been reported for torsion measurement with
enhanced sensitivity; however, with a relatively narrow
dynamic range, which may be impractical for certain applica-
tions. Alternatively, an LPFG based on periodically screw-
type distortions was also reported for torsion sensing with
enhanced linear sensitivity.11
In this Letter, we report a new fabrication technique of
LPFGs using a commercial fusion splicer. The proposed
method is based on axial rotation of the optical fiber at each
arc discharge so that the induced asymmetric perturbation
rotates by an axial angle of 180
along the axial direction of
the fiber. Moreover, we present an experimental investiga-
tion of the torsion sensitivity of the produced LPFG. By
using the proposed electric arc technique, the results show
that it is possible to fabricate LPFGs whose torsion sensitiv-
ity is higher than conventional arc-induced LPFGs, and
higher than that of the recently reported LPFG torsion sen-
sors. Therefore, confirming the potential of the proposed
technique as torsion sensors.
2 | METHODOLOGY
Figure 1 shows the schematic representation of the experi-
mental setup for fabricating LPFGs rotated by an axial angle
of θ = 180
at each electric arc discharge. In order to
produce the LPFG, we developed an automatic computer-
assisted fabrication process to precisely control the inscrip-
tion process and improve the alignment of the fiber position
and electrodes. Therefore, we employed a commercial fusion
splicer (Jilong KL-300T) integrated with two motorized
Microw Opt Technol Lett. 2019;61:178–181.
DELGADO AND BESSA
FIGURE 1 Schematic representation of the fabrication setup of
LPFGs with rotation of the fiber by an axial angle of θ = 180

[Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
rotation and translation stages (RTS), a mass of 12 g weight
to apply a constant tensile force of approximately 0.12 N to
the fiber before it is fixed in the RTS, a high precision pulley
and a personal computer (PC). The transmission spectrum of
the LPFG was monitored using an Optical Spectrum Ana-
lyzer (OSA) from Anritsu (MS9740A) with a wavelength
resolution of 30 pm and its built-in broadband light
source (BBS).
In the proposed automatic fabrication system, the LPFGs
were produced in a standard optical fiber Corning SMF-28
with a grating period of Λ = 530 μm, arc power of 90 bits
(manufacturer unit) and exposure time of 500 ms. The
inscription system has two high precision RTS. Each one
comprises a translation motor to displace the fiber in +z
direction and a rotation motor to perform the rotation of the
fiber by an axial angle of θ = 180
. Furthermore, it is impor-
tant to note that both RTS-1 and RTS-2, which can be
observed in Figure 1, are synchronized and controlled by a
PC. Therefore, the translation motors move the optical fiber
in the same direction (+z) at the same time, whereas the
rotation motors rotate the fiber by the same axial angle.
The fabrication procedure consists of two main steps.
The first step consists of applying the first electric arc dis-
charge, moving the fiber according to the desired grating
modulation period, which translates the fiber to the next arc
discharge longitudinal position, and rotating the fiber by an
axial angle of θ = 180
. The second one performs the next
arc discharge, inversely rotates the fiber, which implies in an
axial rotation of θ = 180
in the opposite direction (−θ), and
translates the fiber for the next discharge position. Then,
these steps are repeated until a desired transmission spec-
trum is achieved. Throughout the fabrication process, the
rotation of the optical fiber at each arc discharge can be visu-
alized through the flags attached to both ends of the fiber.
Figure 2 shows the experimental microphotograph of the
produced grating, which emphasizes a section of the LPFG
with the location of two consecutive arc zones and, there-
fore, represents an approximation of the period of modula-
tion of the grating. In addition, we can observe the
geometric modulation of the optical fiber, which is
179
FIGURE 2 Microphotograph of the periodically modulation of
the produced grating [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
visualized as a reduction of the fiber diameter of approxi-
mately 14.1 μm.
Figure 3A shows the transmission spectrum of the LPFG
produced with grating modulation period of Λ = 530 μm,
grating length of 20Λ = 10.6 mm and axial rotation angle of
180
, where two attenuation dips can be observed at reso-
nant wavelengths of 1505.37 nm and 1565.75 nm. For a
single-mode fiber (SMF) without applied torsion, the attenu-
ation bands are positioned at specific resonance wavelengths
λi, which are determined by the phase-matching condition:
λi ¼ ðncore −ni, clad ÞΛ, ð1Þ
where ncore and ni,clad are the effective refractive indices
of the fundamental core and cladding modes, respectively,
and Λ represents the period of the grating. Therefore, in
order to identify the cladding modes of the resonant wave-
lengths observed in Figure 3A, we have simulated the phase-
matching curves for the produced LPFG using OptiGrating
v. 4.2 software by Optiwave, which can be observed in
Figure 3B.
In our simulations, we only consider coupling to asym-
metric cladding modes (LP1j; j ≥ 1), since the inhomoge-
neous modulation of the fiber in arc induced LPFGs
promotes asymmetric coupling.12 Moreover, we have con-
sidered a Corning SMF-28 with core and cladding refractive
indices of 1.4492 and 1.444, respectively, and core and clad-
ding diameter of 8.2 μm and 125 μm, respectively. The
phase-matching curves in Figure 3B illustrate the depen-
dence between the grating modulation period and the reso-
nant wavelengths of the LP11-LP15 asymmetric cladding
modes and the black dots correspond to the experimental
data from the produced LPFG with Λ = 530 μm. Therefore,
the phase-matching curves indicate that the two attenuation
dips at 1505.37 nm and 1565.75 nm, which are observed in
Figure 3A, correspond to the energy coupling of the funda-
mental core mode LP01 to the LP12 and LP13 cladding
modes, respectively. We can also note a good agreement
between the simulated results and the experimental values,
which supports the proposed fabrication method and the
experimental results.
3 | EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
We also report the experimental characterization of the spec-
tral response of the produced LPFG sensor for different
180 DELGADO AND BESSA

FIGURE 3 (A) Transmission spectrum of the produced LPFG with Λ = 530 μm and fiber axial rotation angle of θ = 180
at each arc
discharge. (B) Simulation of the phase-matching curves (solid lines) and experimental values (black dots) [Color figure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]

values of torsion rate. Thus, we investigated the torsion sen-
sitivity of the different attenuation dips observed in
Figure 3A, which have been identified as the LP12 and LP13
cladding modes. The experimental setup used for measure-
ments of torsion is similar to the one used for fabricating the
LPFG shown in Figure 1, however, excluding the fusion
splicer machine. Therefore, in order to perform the experi-
mental tests, the optical fiber with the LPFG in the middle
was fixed rigidly between two rotation and translations
stages (RTS-1 and RTS-2), which are the same used in the
fabrication procedure, with 14 cm separation length (L0)
between them. Furthermore, it is important to mention that
one end of the fiber was fixed to the RTS-1, which provided
controlled mechanical torsion to the LPFG under investiga-
tion, whereas the other one was fixed to the RTS-2, which
was stationary. Therefore, it is convenient to define the
mechanical torsion rate (τ) applied to the LPFG as an abso-
lute value of torsion angle per unit length of the twisted fiber
section with the LPFG, which can be expressed as
behavior can be attributed to the reduction of the strength of
the coupling coefficient between the fundamental core mode
and the cladding modes.13 We can also observe that the reso-
nant wavelength of both cladding modes shifts continuously
in the direction of shorter wavelengths of the spectrum as
the mechanical torsion increases. At the maximum torsion
rate of 44.88 rad/m, the attenuation band of the LP12 clad-
ding mode shifted from 1505.35 nm to 1499.31 nm, with a
spectral variation shift of −6.04 nm, whereas the resonance
dip of the LP13 mode, which was initially at 1565.75 nm,
tuned to 1557.30 nm, therefore, experiencing a total wave-
length shift of −8.45 nm. Moreover, it was found that the
response of both cladding modes varied monotonically and
linearly and by experimental data fitting with a linear regres-
sion approach, the LP12 cladding mode showed a sensitivity

τ ¼ β=L0 , ð2Þ
where β is the torsion angle in radian unit. The torsion
angles applied to the LPFG sensor varied from 0
to 360
in
steps of 60
and the fiber was rotated clockwise in the direc-
tion of the propagation of the light, therefore, providing co-
direction torsion stress to the fiber. Besides, considering that
the LPFG was subjected to a total rotation angle of 360
, a
maximum torsion rate value of 44.88 rad/m was applied to
the sensor with mechanical torsion steps of approximately
7.48 rad/m.
FIGURE 4 Experimental data fit of the measured resonant
Figure 4 shows the experimental results for the LPFG
wavelength shift of the LP12 and LP13 cladding modes as a
exposed to the effects of co-direction torsion strain and its
function of torsion rate. The inset graphs show the transmission
inset graphs show the spectral evolutions of resonance dips spectra evolution with respect to torsion rate ranging from 0 to
of the LP12 and LP13 cladding modes. In the inset graphs of 44.88 rad/m for both the LP12 (top right corner) and LP13 (bottom
Figure 4, we can observe that the transmission of the attenu- left corner) modes [Color figure can be viewed at
ation bands decreases as the torsion rate increases. This wileyonlinelibrary.com]
DELGADO AND BESSA
TABLE 1 Comparison among the different types of LPFGs
Torsion sensitivity,
Type nm/(rad/m) Reference
Arc-induced LPFG (ours) 0.19702 This work
3
Arc-induced LPFG 0.0245
4
CO2 laser induced LPFG 0.032
6
Pair of rotary LPFGs incorporated 0.084
a fiber ring laser
7
HLPFG in photonic crystal fiber 0.056
(PCF)
8
Pair of CO2 laser induced 0.115
HLPFGs
Arc-induced HLPFG 0.04646 9 [2] Nair AS, Kumar VPS, Joe H. Twist sensitivity of cladding-mode
11
LPFG with screw-type distortions 0.1604
of −0.13369 nm/(rad/m) with high degree of torsion linear-
ity, confirmed by the R2 coefficient of 0.999 derived from
the fitting process. On the other hand, the experimental data
fitting of the LP13 mode resulted in an enhanced sensitivity
of 0.19702 nm/(rad/m) with an R2 coefficient value of 0.998
over the torsion sensing range, as observed in Figure 4. It is
important to mention that the torsion sensitivity of the pro-
duced LPFG is eight times higher than the sensitivity of a
conventional arc-induced LPFG.3 In order to further empha-
size the enhanced sensitivity of the LPFG produced with
opposite point-by-point modulation, Table 1 lists the torsion
sensitivity of LPFG obtained in the present study in compar-
ison with other conventional and most recent configurations
of torsion sensors based on these gratings. Furthermore, the
spectral behavior of the LP12 and LP13 cladding modes with
respect to the mechanical torsion effect can be attributed to
the different refractive index changes induced by the torsion
stress in the core and cladding of the optical fiber, and the
modal field distribution of these cladding modes.
4 | CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we have proposed a novel technique for the
fabrication of an enhanced torsion sensitivity arc-induced
LPFG. Distinguishing from the conventional method of fab-
ricating arc-induced LPFGs, the reported technique is based
upon the axial rotation of the optical fiber by axial angles of
180
during the point-by-point arc discharge process, which
induces a series of opposite asymmetric modulations over
the entire length of the grating. As a result, the produced
LPFG allows the energy coupling between the fundamental
core mode and the asymmetric LP12 and LP13 cladding
modes within the operating wavelength range. Furthermore,
an enhanced torsion sensitivity of approximately 0.197 nm/
(rad/m) with high degree of linearity was achieved for the
LP13 cladding mode. Therefore, the experimental results
show better torsion sensing performance than different
181
configurations of LPFGs, which confirms the high potential
of the produced LPFG for applications as torsion sensors.
OR C ID
Felipe Delgado https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9779-645X
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How to cite this article: Delgado F, Bessa A. Tor-
sion-dependent spectral response of long-period fiber
grating based on electric arc technique with axial rota-
tion of the fiber. Microw Opt Technol Lett. 2019;61:
178–181. https://doi.org/10.1002/mop.31532