Abstract
The fields and resonance conditions of Fabry-Perot (FP) cavities containing several birefringent single-mode fibers have been analyzed in terms of the fiber birefringence and misalignment of birefringent axes. For FP cavities with birefringent materials, two sets of fringes, corresponding to two cavity modes, can be observed. Information may be extracted from the separation between adjacent peaks of cavity modes of the same polarization as well as those of different polarizations. Thus a FP cavity containing birefringent fibers may be used as an optical fiber polarimetric sensor without the use of polarization analyzers. Polarimetric sensors of this type have been constructed and tested. The change of fiber birefringence due to a lateral stress applied to low birefringent fibers has been measured and experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical estimates. © 1989 IEEE