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Nonlithographic fabrication of microstructured fiber Bragg grating evanescent wave sensors

This work is devoted to present and demonstrate a novel approach for the fabrication of micro-structured fiber Bragg gratings (MSFBGs). The MSFBG consists in a localized stripping of the cladding layer in a well defined region in the middle of the grating. The introduction of a perturbation along the grating leads to the formation of a defect state in the FBG spectral response that is tunable through the surrounding medium refractive index. Here, a two steps MSFBG fabrication technique, based on arc-discharge technique as fiber pre-treatment and maskless wet chemical etching to sensitize FBG to external refractive index, is proposed. Compared to the lithographic fabrication approach, previously proposed by the same authors and based on laser micromachining tool, this new simple and lowcost technique overcomes some technological drawbacks related to the presence of a mask and consequent undercutting etching. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate the potentiality of the presented approach to realize reliable MSFBGs enabling the prototyping of advanced photonics devices based on this technology.