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An acousto-optic modulator (AOM) is used to tune the spectral properties and add a dynamic component to a long period fiber grating (LPG). Most of the physical parameters that an LPG is sensitive to, can be obtained through passive analysis of the spectral changes. Here, we show that by adding a temporal response component to the grating sensitivity, dynamic parameters such as fluid viscosity, can be extracted. By measuring the modulation signal rise time and/or the acousto-optic efficiency, we demonstrate a compact, dip-style, multi-parameter sensor, which is able to measure, among various parameters, the viscosity of a fluid in frequencies up to 700 Hz. Further, we show that taking the temporal response into consideration, the sensor has a linear response against viscosity, in contrast to average measurements based on spectral properties. The non-linear component of the average measurements arises from a relaxation of the initial acoustic perturbation on a timescale longer than the initial rise time. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

When an acoustic wave excites a phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PSFBG) several properties of the transmission/reflection spectrum, such as transmission notch depth and spectral bandwidth are influenced. In this work, a study on the effect of acoustic waves in PSFBGs is presented. The results are supported by theoretical simulation and experimental work. The technique can be used for different applications, such as in a fast tunable optical notch filter. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We have shown experimental results of the excitation of long period fiber gratings by means of flexural acoustic waves with a wavelength larger than the grating period, validated by numerical simulations. The effect of the acoustic wave on the grating is modeled with the method of assumed modes, which delivers the strain field inside the grating, then used as the input to the transfer matrix method, needed for calculating the grating spectrum. The experimental and numerical results are found to be in good agreement, even though only the strain-optic effects are taken into account. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.