A device comprising a fiber grating loop ringdown (FGLRD) system of analysis is disclosed. A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) or Long-Period grating (LPG) written in a section of single mode fused silica fiber is incorporated into a fiber loop. By utilizing the wing areas of the gratings' bandwidth as a wavelength dependent attenuator of the light transmission, a fiber grating loop ringdown concept is formed. One aspect of the present invention is temperature sensing, which has been demonstrated using the disclosed device. Temperature measurements in the areas of accuracy, stability, high temperature, and dynamic range are also described.