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A fiber optic sensor coated with molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2) hydrogel is firstly proposed for the detection of lead ion (Pb2+). By splicing a dispersion-compensating fiber (DCF) between two single-mode fibers (SMFs) to form a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), and using a fusion splicer to discharge the SMF input and output to form a thick waist cone to act as a coupler. A portion of the DCF cladding is etched to excite higher order cladding patterns and a hydrogel sensing film is applied to the etched area, the sulfur atoms in the sensing film form coordination bonds with Pb2+ and change the refractive index (RI) of the sensing film, which further leads to the wavelength shift of the resonant dip. The production process is simple and environmentally friendly. By monitoring the wavelength shift, the adsorption of Pb2+ is continuously monitored, and the sensor has a sensitivity of 3.25 × 108 nm/(mol/L) in the range of 0–1.1 × 10−8 mol/L Pb2+ in aqueous solution. The theoretical detection limit of Pb2+ concentration is 6.15 × 10−11 mol/L at a spectrometer resolution of 0.02 nm. In addition, the experimental results show that the sensor has good repeatability , selectivity and stability, and has a broad application prospect in the field of Pb2+ detection in industry and agriculture. • A SMF-DCF-SMF structure fiber sensor coated with molybdenum disulfide hydrogel is proposed for the detection of lead ion. • A sensitivity of 3.25×108 nm/(mol/L) is achieved and the theoretical detection limit of lead ion is 6.15×10-11 mol/L. • The characteristics of the sensor show applications in the field of lead ion detection in industry and agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and cost-efficient fiber sensor based on multi-mode interference and core diameter mismatch technologies is proposed to detect the refractive index (RI) in this paper. The refractometer is fabricated by embedding a section of no-core fiber between a section of multimode fiber and dispersion-compensating fiber. Since the power distribution in the fiber will change with the effective refractive index of the cladding, the extinction ratio can be used to characterize the RI sensitivity. The experimental results show that a linear response is obtained with a RI sensitivity of 392.585 dB/RIU in the range of 1.333–1.374. Featured with high sensitivity, simple construction, easy fabrication, low cost and good repeatability, the novel refractometer has potential applications in practical chemical detecting and portable biological sensing. • A refractometer based on multi-mode interference and core diameter mismatch technologies is proposed. • The sensor head merely includes a MMF, NCF, and DCF orderly through automatic splicing without any special processing. • Utilizing extinction ratio demodulation, a RI sensitivity of 392.585 dB/RIU is achieved from 1.3330 to 1.3740, 5-7 times higher than untreated sensors. • Featured with high sensitivity, simple construction, easy fabrication, low cost and good repeatability, it holds potential for practical detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]