we demonstrate a compact eccentric long period grating with enhanced sensitivity in low refractive index region. with a period designed at 15 μm for coupling light to high order cladding modes, the grating is more sensitive to surrounding refractive index in low refractive index region. the intrinsically low coupling coefficients for those high order cladding modes are significantly improved with the eccentric localized inscription induced by the femtosecond laser. the fabricated grating is compact with a length of 4.05 mm, and exhibits an average sensitivity of ~505 nm/riu in low refractive index region (1.3328-1.3544). the proposed principle can also work in other refractive index region with a proper choice of the resonant cladding modes. © 2017 optical society of america.