Temperature evolution of interferometer visibility in a small radius fibre coil current sensor

We have experimentally demonstrated periodic oscillations of interferometer visibility in a current sensor in response to changes in the temperature of a small-radius spun fibre sensing coil. The observed effect has been shown to depend on the magnitude of the bend-induced linear birefringence in the spun fibre in the magnetically sensitive coil and the temperature behaviour of the built-in linear birefringence in the fibre. Using a model that considers a helical structure of the built-in linear birefringence axes in spun fibre, we have shown that the above factors result in periodic oscillations of the ellipticity of polarised light at the ends of the sensing coil and that this underlies the temperature oscillations of interferometer visibility in the current sensor. The effect may cause errors in the response of a fibre-optic current sensor with a small sensing coil.