Performance of Tb Glass Used to Fabricate Special Optical Fiber as a Discrete Current Sensor

The performance of Tb glass used to fabricate special optical fiber is evaluated as a discrete magnetic sensor and compared with rare-earth iron garnet (RIG) based discrete sensor and silica based optical fiber sensors. The proposed material has a Verdet constant 28.8 times higher than silica. Employing a sample of Tb-glass of 5 mm length a measured sensitivity 15.6 times lower than the RIG-based sensor was achieved, proving that the proposed material can be used both as a discrete bulk element as well as an optical fiber sensing element presenting a trade-off between the silica fibers and RIG elements which cannot be pulled to form an optical fiber.