Bend sensors based on periodically tapered soft glass fibers

We demonstrate a technique for tapering periodically an all-solid soft glass fiber consisting of two types of lead silicate glasses by the use of a CO2 laser and investigate the bend sensing applications of the periodically-tapered soft glass fiber. Such a soft glass fiber with periodic microtapers could be used to develop a promising bend sensor with a sensitivity of -27.75 µW/m-1 by means of measuring the bend-induced change of light intensity. The proposed bend sensor exhibits a very low measurement error of down to ± 1%.