A multi-purpose reflective fiber optic sensor

Fiber optic sensors, including reflective ones, have widespread applications in sensing technology. In this study, we first formulated the gain of a general reflective fiber optic sensor in terms of five major sensor parameters, and for two patterns of input intensity: namely uniform and Gaussian. By using these formulae, we have analyzed and plotted the variations of gain versus one or two of these parameters. The results obtained have exact compatibility for the two patterns of input intensity, although they have been obtained by different methods. The results can be suitably used in the optimum design of a wide variety of reflective fiber optic sensors.