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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 63, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014

Fiber Optic FabryPerot Magnetic Field Sensor

With Temperature Compensation Using
a Fiber Bragg Grating
Yong Zhao, Member, IEEE, Ri-Qing Lv, Dan Wang, and Qi Wang, Member, IEEE

Abstract Based on the characteristic of magnetic-controlled

refractive index, magnetic fluid was used as a sensitive medium
in fiber optic FabryPerot (FP) cavity. Combined with the temperature sensing property of fiber Bragg grating (FBG), a novel
fiber optic FP magnetic field sensor with temperature compensation was proposed. The sensor probe has the advantages of
simple structure, low cost, and high magnetic field measurement
accuracy. Magnetic field and temperature can be simultaneously
measured by the proposed sensor. Sensing mechanism and experimental results indicated that the temperature cross effect on
magnetic field measurement can be effectively compensated using
a FBG. The maximal magnetic field intensity is up to 600 Gs with
a sensitivity of 0.04 nm/Gs and measurement resolution is 0.5 Gs.
Index Terms Fiber Bragg grating (FBG), fiber optic
FabryPerot (FP) sensor, magnetic field measurement, magnetic
fluid (MF), temperature compensation.

I. I NTRODUCTION

IBER OPTIC FabryPerot (FP) interferometer is a tunable optical device based on multiple beams interference
[1], [2]. Compared with MachZehnder interferometer and
Michelson interferometer, it has many advantages, such as
compact size, not easily affected by the environment, and
so on. Recently, fiber optic FP interferometer is widely
researched and applied in various fields [3], [4].
In 2009, a fiber optic FP magnetic sensor based on
magnetic fluid (MF) was proposed by [5]. However, there exist
some disadvantages. The refractive index of MF is affected
by the magnetic field and the temperature simultaneously,
but the change of surrounding temperature has not been
considered in the sensing system. Thus, temperature cross

Manuscript received October 20, 2013; revised December 20, 2013;

accepted December 27, 2013. Date of publication May 14, 2014; date of
current version August 7, 2014. This work was supported in part by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61273059 and
61203206, in part by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities under Grant N130104002 and N130604006, and in part by the
IAPI Fundamental Research Funds under Grant 2013ZCX09. The Associate
Editor coordinating the review process was Dr. Salvatore Baglio.
Y. Zhao is with the College of Information Science and Engineering,
Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China, and also with the State
Key Laboratory of Synthetical Automation for Process Industries, Shenyang
110819, China (e-mail: zhaoyong@ise.neu.edu.cn).
R.-Q. Lv, D. Wang, and Q. Wang are with the College of Information
Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
(e-mail: wangqi@ise.neu.edu.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIM.2014.2308360

Fig. 1.

Schematic diagram of magnetic field FP sensor.

effect on MF refractive index cannot be eliminated, which

would influence the measurement accuracy of magnetic field.
In 2012, a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF)
FP magnetic field sensor based on MF was proposed by [6].
The HC-PCF is insensitive to temperature. Therefore, the
temperature cross effect on the sensor can be well eliminated.
However, HC-PCF is expensive, and the splice technique
between PCF and single mode fiber (SMF) has not been
yet mature. Thus, it is essential to propose a low cost,
easy fabrication, and no temperature cross effect fiber optic
magnetic field sensor.
In this paper, a novel fiber optic FP magnetic field sensor
was proposed based on the tunable refractive index property of
MF, and a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) was used to compensate
the temperature cross-sensitive effect on the sensor. Therefore,
the measurement accuracy of FP magnetic field sensor was
improved. The structure and measuring principle of the sensing
system were introduced. Preliminary experiments such as the
relations among MF refractive index, magnetic field, and
temperature were done. The sensing mechanism simulation
was carried out and showed that the sensor was feasible and
reasonable.
II. D ESIGN AND FABRICATION OF S ENSOR
The temperature compensated fiber optic FP magnetic field
sensor proposed in this paper was sealed in a glass capillary
using epoxy glue.
Structure of the proposed magnetic field sensor probe was
shown as in Fig. 1. First, an SMF with a 10 mm part
without coating layer was slowly inserted into glass capillary
from one end. Second, the MF was filled into the tube by
capillary action. Third, another single mode fiber inscribed
FBG was inserted into glass capillary from the other end.

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ZHAO et al.: FIBER OPTIC FP MAGNETIC FIELD SENSOR

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And the important section was to achieve the cavity length

of 36 m by adjusting the two ends of the fibers. All the
operations were achieved using a 6-D adjustment frame and a
microscope. Finally, the both ends of the glass capillary were
sealed with epoxy glue. In this paper, the proposed fiber optic
FP magnetic field sensor was a reflexive type.
The refractive indexes of MF and fiber core are very close to
each other. According to the Fresnel reflection, the interface
reflectivity R between MF and fiber core can be calculated
and it is low. Therefore, the proposed sensor is a low fineness
FP sensor. And without coating film on the fiber end faces
to improve the interface reflectivity, a low reflectivity FBG
was chosen. Low concentration water-based MF was also
chosen. Thus, the sensing system output spectrum consisted
of reflective spectrums of FP and FBG can be obtained in
a fit range.
The water-based MF EMG507 (Ferrotec USA Corporation)
was used, and its concentration was 1.8%. The cavity length of
fiber optic FP sensor was 36 m, the inner diameter of glass
capillary was 125 m, and the Bragg wavelength of FBG was
1550 nm.
III. P RINCIPLE OF M AGNETIC F IELD M EASUREMENT
A. Principle of FBG Temperature Measurement
The FBG is one of the fiber optic devices whose refractive index of fiber core is periodically modulated [7]. It is
essentially that a narrow band (transmittance or reflectance)
filter or a reflective mirror is formed in fiber core. The Bragg
wavelength B is given as follows:
B = 2n eff 

(1)

where n eff is effective refractive index of fiber core,  is the

modulation periodicity of refractive index.
The Bragg wavelength shift caused by temperature can be
expressed as [8]
 B = B (th + ) T = K T T

(2)

where  B is Bragg wavelength change, th = 0.55

106 /C is the coefficient of thermal expansion of silica,
= 8.0 106 /C is the thermo-optical coefficient, T is the
change of temperature, K T is the total temperature sensitivity
of FBG sensor.
B. Principle of MF Filled FP Magnetic Field Measurement
The schematic diagram of FP magnetic field sensor is
shown in Fig. 1. When the reflectivity R of FP cavity two
interfaces is low, then the model of multiple beam interference
could be simply replaced by that of the double beam interference. The reflection of the FP sensor can be represented as
follows:

(3)
I r = I1 + I2 + 2 I1 I2 cos
where I r is reflection interference light intensity, I1 and I2 are
the first and the second reflection light intensity, respectively.
Considering that when light is incident from optically thinner
medium to optically denser medium, the reflected light will

Fig. 2.

Schematic diagram of sensing system.

be appended half-wave loss, namely phase shift. Thus, the

phase difference between two adjacent reflected light can be
presented as follows:
4n L
+
(4)

where n is the refractive index of medium in cavity, L is cavity

length. When meets = 2m (m is positive integer), the
intensity of the interference was strongest.
From (4), there are two ways to tune the interference
spectrum of FP cavity. One way is to change the FP cavity
length [9] and the other is to change the refractive index of
the medium in the cavity. The second way is widely used
to achieve sensors by filling a special sensitive medium into
the cavity, such as MF and some semiconductors. The second
way was also adopted in this paper, and MF was filled into
the cavity of the extrinsic FP interferometer to work as the
sensitive medium. When a varied magnetic field was applied
on the sensor, the refractive index of MF would change
consequently. Then, it would induce the shift of the FP output
spectrum.
The MF is a kind of novel nanofunctional sensitive materials. Magnetic moment of magnetic nanoparticles in MF is
along with the external magnetic field orientation. Magnetic
nanoparticles attract each other and form a chain. Thus,
MF can present changeable microstructures which can lead
to different optical properties. In this paper, using the tunable
refractive index property of MF in FP cavity, when applied
magnetic field, the FP interference spectrum shifted. Thus,
the magnetic field measurement was realized.
Magnetic field and temperature are the two major factors,
which can effect on MF refractive index. By Langevin function
[10], [11] which described the relationship among MF refractive index, temperature and magnetic field, the change of
MF refractive index could be presented as follows:
=

n = K T T + K H H

(5)

where n is the MF refractive index change with the magnetic field and temperature, K T and K H are the sensitivity
of MF refractive index of temperature and magnetic field,
respectively, and T and H are the change of temperature and magnetic field intensity, respectively. The schematic
diagram of the sensing system based on the proposed sensor
was shown in Fig. 2. The sensing probe was placed in
the center axis position of electromagnetic coil. Light from

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 63, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014

Fig. 3. Output spectrum of sensing system under different magnetic field

and temperature.

Fig. 4.

Bragg wavelength shifting with temperature.

amplified spontaneous emission (Golight, OS321886) through

the circulator was directed to the fiber optic FP sensor. Then,
the reflected light was directed back to the optical spectrum
analyzer (OSA, YOKOGAWA, AQ6370). The intensity of the
magnetic field is adjusted using a programmable power supply
(ITECH, IT6154) to control the current flowing through the
electromagnetic coil. The radius of electromagnetic coil is
55 mm, and the number of turns is 750. Output spectrum
of the fiber optic FP sensor under different temperature and
magnetic field was shown in Fig. 3. With the magnetic field H
and temperature T increase, the output spectrum shifted right
and the relation between Bragg wavelength and temperature
was clearly shown in Fig. 4. The temperature sensitivity is
0.02 nm/C.
From (4) and (5), the relation among the shift of FP
sensor output spectrum, magnetic field and temperature can
be obtained and simplified as follows:
FP = K TFP T + K HFP H

(6)

where FP is the shift of FP output spectrum, which is

shifting with H and T . K TFP and K HFP are the sensitivity
coefficient of T and H of FP sensor, respectively.
Based on the above analysis, n is controlled by magnetic
field and temperature, forcing to change. Thus, sensing
system output spectrum shifts. If the shift of the sensor output
spectrum FP and  B are known, H and T can be
easily obtained. Then, the temperature acquired by FBG can
be employed to compensate the magnetic field measurement

Fig. 5.

Relation between magnetic field intensity and temperature.

Fig. 6.

Relation between MF refractive index and temperature.

results [12]. The character can be shown as the following

matrix [13], [14]:

 

1 
T
K TFP K HFP
FP
=
.
(7)
H
K T
0
 B
IV. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
Because of the magnetic controlling property of MF refractive index, the refractive index increases with the increasing
of magnetic field intensity H . Thus, the resonance wavelength of fiber optic FP sensor will shift to the long wavelength direction. However, the increase of magnetic field is
always a function of the temperature introduced by the large
drive currents. In this case, the temperature cross effect on
MF refractive index is also reflected on the output spectrum of
the sensing system. To eliminate the temperature cross effect
and improve the measurement accuracy of magnetic field,
the relation between the magnetic field and the temperature
should be known. As shown in Fig. 5, the experimental results
indicated that the temperature T of sensing space increases
with the increasing of magnetic field intensity H .
The relation between MF refractive index and temperature
can be obtained by the Fresnel reflection experiment. Thus,
the temperature cross effect on MF refractive index under
different magnetic field can be eliminated. As shown in Fig. 6,
the experiment results indicated that MF refractive index
decreased with the increase of temperature, and the sensitivity
was 8 105 /C.

ZHAO et al.: FIBER OPTIC FP MAGNETIC FIELD SENSOR

Fig. 7.

Relation between magnetic field intensity and resonance peak.

After FBG temperature compensation, the relation between

the shift of resonant peak and magnetic field can be gotten and
was shown in Fig. 7. It had a good linearity. The resonant peak
of FP sensor shifts only under the applied magnetic field. The
sensitivity of magnetic field measurement was 0.04 nm/Gs.
The wavelength measurement resolution of OSA is 20 pm.
Therefore, the magnetic field measurement resolution could
reach 0.5 Gs. The accuracy of the FP magnetic field sensor
was improved.
V. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, based on the MF, a novel fiber optic
FP magnetic field sensor was proposed. The measurement
of magnetic field was realized. And the measurement results
of magnetic field were for temperature compensation using
a FBG. Some preliminary experiments were carried out. The
sensor probe has the advantages of simple structure, easy fabrication, low cost, and so on. The results indicated that magnetic
field measurement range was 0600 Gs. The sensitivity of
magnetic field measurement could reach 0.04 nm/Gs. And
the corresponding resolution was 0.5 Gs. As principal results,
we had a standard deviation of 0.31 Gs and a temperature
measurement sensitivity of 0.02 nm/C. Hysteresis time of
EMG 507 MF is 30 min.
R EFERENCES
[1] D. Bo, H. Ming, S. Liqun, W. Jiajun, W. Yunjing, and W. Anbo,
Sulfur hexafluoride-filled extrinsic FabryPerot interferometric fiber
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[2] Y. Rao and M. Deng, PCF-based FabryPerot refractive-index sensor,
Proc. SPIE, vol. 6830, p. 68300D, Mar. 2008.
[3] V. Bhatia et al., Optical fiber based absolute extrinsic FabryPerot
interferometric sensing system, Meas. Sci. Technol., vol. 7, no. 1,
pp. 5861, 1996.
[4] J. S. Leng and A. Asundi, Non-destructive evaluation of smart materials
by using extrinsic FabryPerot interferometric and fiber Bragg grating
sensors, NDT &E Int., vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 273276, Jun. 2002.
[5] H. Tao, L. Zhiwei, Z. Yong, L. Xing, and C. Jingjing, Novel optical
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[6] Y. Zhao, R. Lv, Y. Ying, and Q. Wang, Hollow-core photonic crystal
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[7] B. Liu, The Research and Implementation of Fiber Bragg Grating
Sensing System. Shaanxi, China: Nankai Univ., 2006.

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[8] L. X. Chen, X. G. Huang, J. Y. Li, and Z. B. Zhong, Simultaneous

measurement of refractive index and temperature by integrating an
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[9] S. Dong, S. Pu, and J. Huang, Magnetic field sensing based on
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[10] R. E. Rosenweig, Ferrohydrodynamics. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge
Univ. Press, 1985.
[11] J. Yu et al., Tunable refractive index and the applications of magnetic
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[13] L. Li, X. L. Tong, and C. M. Zhou, Integration of miniature FabryPerot
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[14] J. Huang, X. Lan, A. Kaur, H. Wang, L. Yuan, and H. Xiao, Reflectionbased phase-shifted long period fiber grating for simultaneous measurement of temperature and refractive index, Opt. Eng., vol. 52, no. 1,
p. 014404, 2013.

Yong Zhao (M12) received the M.A. degree in precision instrument and the Ph.D. degree in automatic
measurement with laser and fiber-optic techniques
from the Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin,
China, in 1998 and 2001, respectively.
He was a Post-Doctor with the Department of
Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, from 2001 to 2003, and where he
was an Associate Professor with the Department
of Automation. In 2006, he was a Visiting Scholar
with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
Champaign, IL, USA. He is currently with Northeastern University, Boston,
MA, USA, as a Full Professor. He has authored and co-authored more than 170
scientific papers and conference presentations, eight patents, and five books.
His current research interests include the development of fiber-optic sensors
and device, fiber Bragg grating sensors, novel sensor materials and principles,
slow light and sensor technology, and optical measurement technologies.
Dr. Zhao is a member of the Editorial Boards of the International Journals
of Sensor Letters, Instrumentation Science & Technology, Frontiers in Sensors,
Journal of Sensor Technology, and Advances in Optical Technologies. He was
awarded a first prize scholarship in 2000 by the China Instrument and Control
Society and the Sintered Metal Corporation scholarship in Japan. He was the
recipient of the New Century Excellent Talents in University Award by the
Ministry of Education of China in 2008, the Liaoning Bai-Qian-Wan Talents
Award by Liaoning Province in 2009, and an Academic Researcher of City
University London Award by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2011.

Ri-Qing Lv was born in Guangdong, China, in

1985. He received the B.S degree in biomedical
engineering and the M.S. degree in circuit and
system from the College of Information Science and
Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang,
China, in 2008 and 2010, respectively, where he
is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in detection
technology and automatic equipment.
He has authored and co-authored more than 13 scientific papers, patents, and conference presentations.
His current research interests include magnetic fluid
and fiber-optic sensors.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 63, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2014

Dan Wang was born in Liaoning, China, in 1989.

She received the bachelors degree from the College
of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China, in 2012, where she
is currently pursuing the masters degree with the
Research Center of Optical Sensing and Detection
Technology.
Her current research interests include the optical
properties of the magnetic fluid, fiber-optic sensors,
and optoelectronic measurement technology and system.

Qi Wang (M12) was born in Liaoning, China, in

1982. He received the Ph.D. degree from the School
of Physics and Optoelectronic Technology, Dalian
University of Technology, Dalian, China, in 2009.
He is currently with the College of Information
Science and Engineering, Northeastern University,
Boston, MA, USA, as an Associated Professor. He
has authored and co-authored more than 40 scientific papers, patents, and conference presentations.
His current research interests include new photonic
devices, fiber-optic sensors, optoelectronic measurement technology and system, and their industrial applications.