LAUSR

Abstract A novel design principle and fabrication method for whispering gallery mode optical multiple-resonator arrays have been proposed and demonstrated. The proposed design involves an inline cascade of optical micro-resonators (ICOMRs) coupled to multiple tapered sections along a single optical fiber. The multiple micro-resonators can be used for sensing of several parameters or a single parameter at multiple locations simultaneously. A simple and robust packaging technique has been developed ensuring stable and repeatable operation of the device. In order to demonstrate the capability of simultaneous multi- parameter sensing of the proposed ICOMRs structure, strain and temperature measurements were carried out using an inline cascade of two cylindrical micro-resonators: a tapered polymer optical fiber based micro-cylinder and a polydimethylsiloxane coated silica cylindrical micro-resonator. An Axial tensile strain sensitivity of 1.4 ± 0.04 pm/μe and temperature sensitivity of 330 ± 18 pm/°C have been demonstrated experimentally. The proposed ICOMRs design has many potential applications in distributed sensing, lab-on-a-fiber technology and optical communications.