Twist effect and sensing of few mode polymer fibre Bragg gratings

For the development of the twist sensor based on few mode polymer optical fibre (POF) gratings, we investigated the twist effect of few mode (FM) POF Bragg gratings with large twist, and found the twist effect on reflection is highly mode dependent-insignificant on the fundamental mode and considerable on higher order modes, which seems closely related to the symmetry of modal field. In addition, Bragg wavelengths of both the fundamental mode and higher modes red-shift with the twisting and blue-shift with the twist releasing, and they almost display the similar response trend without any mode dependence. Further analysis found that the red-shift of the Bragg wavelength should be attributed to the redistribution of the pre-strain applied upon the POF, activated by twist. Finally, based on the reflection response to the twist, one kind of twist sensing scheme with few mode POF gratings has been demonstrated, showing great potential as a twist sensor.