Temperature-Compensated Vector Bending Sensor with Double-Cladding Fiber Assisted Mach–Zehnder Interferometer

Vector bending sensing is an important research direction in the field of bionic robot design. A vector bending sensor with temperature compensation based on Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed and experimentally investigated. The MZI is implemented using an off-axis splice between a single-mode fiber (SMF) and a double-cladding fiber (DCF). The proposed sensor is analyzed comprehensively from the perspective of theoretical analysis and experimentally demonstrated. It reaches a high curvature sensitivity as high as −8.311 nm/m−1 and a compact size as small as 3 mm, while keeping the capability of direction sensing and temperature compensation. The proposed vector bending sensor has a good potential for accurate curvature measurement due to its high accuracy, multifunction, low cost and, compact size.