Fabrication and Characterization of an Optimized Low-Loss Two-Mode Fiber for Optoacoustic Sensing

An optimized multi-step index (MSI) 2-LP-mode fiber is proposed and fabricated with low propagation loss of 0.179 dB/km, low intermodal crosstalk and excellent bend resistance. We experimentally clarified the characteristics of backward Brillouin scattering (BBS) and forward Brillouin scattering (FBS) induced by radial acoustic modes (R-0,R-m) in the fabricated MSI 2-LP-mode fiber, respectively. Via the use of this two-mode fiber, we demonstrated a novel discriminative measurement method of temperature and acoustic impedance based on BBS and FBS, achieving improved experimental measurement uncertainties of 0.2 degrees C and 0.019 kg/(s center dot mm(2)) for optoacoustic chemical sensing. The low propagation loss of the sensing fiber and the new measurement method based on both BBS and FBS may pave the way for long-distance and high spatial resolution distributed fiber sensors.