Patent ID: 9347841
Filing Date: 2016-05-24
CPC Classification: G01D,G01L,G02B,Y10T

Claim Text:
1. A method of measuring a mechanical strain, comprising: emitting, with an optical signal generator, an optical signal; receiving, at an optical fiber, the optical signal from the optical signal generator; disposing at least two photonic crystal slabs within the optical fiber and separated by a first segment of the optical fiber, wherein each of the at least two photonic crystal slabs includes a plurality of holes extending from a first surface to a second surface of the respective photonic crystal slab, wherein the first surface and the second surface of each of the at least two photonic crystal slabs are arranged to have a zero or substantially zero angle of incidence relative to an optical axis of the optical fiber; detecting, with a photo-detector, a reflected optical signal from the at least two photonic crystal slabs; and computing, with a processor, configured to compute the mechanical strain occurring over the first segment of the optical fiber based on the reflected optical signal detected by the photo-detector.