The Principle and Architectures of Optical Stress Sensors and the Progress on the Development of Microbend Optical Sensors

Abstract Optical stress sensors have been considered to be amongst the most important categories in the development of stress sensors. Recently, the advancement of microbend optical sensors has been playing a pivotal role in the stress sensor development. In this review, the principles and the architectures of the optical stress sensors are reviewed, and the physical mechanisms of the bend‐loss‐based optical stress sensors are presented. The latest development and applications of microbend optical sensors in key areas are discussed. The authors aim to provide some guidance in the optical sensors fields to researchers engaging in this area and promote the development of the optical sensors for use in next generation technologies.