Ambient refractive index-independent bending vector sensor based on seven-core photonic crystal fiber using lateral offset splicing.

A novel, simple, and compact optical fiber directional bending vector sensor based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The device consists of a piece of seven-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sandwiched between two single mode fibers (SMFs) with a lateral offset splicing joint that covering two cores of PCF. Bending sensitivity of the seven-core PCF based MZI is changed by an axial rotation angle, which shows its capacity for recognizing positive and negative directions.