Optical Fiber Vector Magnetic Field Sensors Based on Magnetic Fluid: A Review

Magnetic field sensors are widely used in many fields. Fiber optic sensors have attracted wide attention because of their advantages such as small size, easy fabrication, and good combination with nanomaterials. In the research of fiber optic magnetic field sensor, the choice of magnetic sensitive material is very important. Among them, magnetic fluid (MF) stands out because of its unique structure and excellent magneto-optical properties and is widely used in optical fiber magnetic field sensors. In recent years, most of the research has been based on the strength of magnetic field, but because of the vectorness of magnetic field, it is of great significance to study the vector-based magnetic field sensor. In this article, the research progress of optical fiber vector magnetic field sensor based on MF in recent years has been reviewed. According to the different methods of implementing vector magnetic field measurement, it is divided into four categories: side-polished type, dislocation welding or bending type, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) type, and fiber grating type.