Temperature-insensitive and strain-insensitive long-period grating sensors for smart structures

We demonstrate that temperature- and strain-insensitive long- period gratings can be fabricated in conventional optical fibers. The former is employed to measure strain with resolution of 20 (mu) (epsilon) under thermal fluctuations in the surroundings, while the latter is used to detect temperature variations as small as 0.8 degrees Celsius in the presence of axial strain.