Temperature-independent fiber Bragg grating strain sensor using bimetal cantilever

A new packaged fiber Bragg grating using bimetal cantilever beam as the strain agent is presented. The grating is two-point attached on one specific surface of the bimetal beam which consists of two metallic material with different thermal-expansion coefficient. Thereby the grating can be compressed or stretched along with the cantilever beam while temperature varies and temperature compensation can be realized. At the same time, grating chirping can be avoided for the particular attaching method. Experiment results demonstrated that the device is able to automatically compensate temperature induced wavelength shift. The temperature dependence of Bragg wavelength reduced to -0.4 pm/degrees C over the temperature range from -20 to 60 degrees C. This fiber grating package technique is cost effective and can be used in strain sensing. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.