Practical interrogation scheme for the abrupt taper Mach–Zehnder interferometer refractive index sensor

A practical interrogation scheme of a refractive index (RI) sensing system based on the abrupt fiber taper Mach–Zehnder interferometer sensor is designed, implemented, and demonstrated by experiment. The broadband light source and optical spectrum analyzer in the conventional design are replaced by two single-wavelength laser diodes modulated by a periodical square waveform and a simple photodetector (PD), which can significantly lower the cost and lead to easier integration. The photocurrent of the PD output signal is used as the indicator of the surrounding RI. Automatic data acquisition and processing is realized by LabVIEW programming. The experiment proves the feasibility of the new scheme and shows a high sensitivity (2371 mV/RIU) and high stability.