Brillouin gain spectrum characterization in Ge-doped large-mode-area fibers

The dependence of Brillouin gain spectrum (BGS) characteristics, including the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) and the BGS bandwidth, on germanium concentration in large-mode-area Ge-doped passive fibers is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The simulation results show that the BFS is inversely proportional to GeO₂ concentration, and the BGS bandwidth initially increases with the augment of GeO₂ concentration, and then decreases. The BGSs of four fibers with core diameters of 10 μm and 20 μm for different GeO₂ concentrations are compared experimentally. Experimental results demonstrate that with the same core diameter, the variations of BFS and BGS bandwidths with GeO₂ concentration accord with the simulation results. Additionally, the BGS characteristics of three large-mode-area passive fibers with diameters of 10 μm, 25 μm, and 30 μm are measured, which confirm that the increasing of the fiber diameters will cause the BGS bandwidth to broaden. We believe that these results can provide valuable references for modulating the high-power narrow-linewidth fiber lasers and Brillouin fiber amplifiers.     

Pressure dependence of Brillouin frequency shift in bare silica optical fibers

The effect of hydrostatic pressure (up to 28 MPa) on Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) within two types of bare, single-mode fibers is studied via Brillouin optical time domain analysis technique. Experimental results show a negative linear relation between pressure and BFS, with almost the same sensitivity in both types of fibers. The average value of experimental slopes is -0.742 MHz/MPa. This value is found to be well suited to theoretical analysis on the basis of data on bulk silica glass in previous reports. This preliminary evaluation may result in a new method for distributed pressure sensing along silica optical fiber.     

Distributed strain measurement using a tellurite glass fiber with Brillouin optical correlation-domain reflectometry

A tellurite glass fiber with a high Brillouin gain was employed for distributed strain measurement with Brillouin optical correlation-domain reflectometry (BOCDR). First, the spatial resolution of BOCDR was evaluated using the tellurite fiber. With the high Brillouin gain of the fiber, it was confirmed clearly in the experiment that the spatial resolution is limited by the Rayleigh scattering-induced noise. Then, the dependence of the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) on strain in the tellurite fiber was investigated, showing a negative dependence with a coefficient of −0.023 MHz/με. Using this tellurite fiber, the distribution of the BFS around a 1-cm strain-applied section was successfully measured with BOCDR of a nominal spatial resolution of 6 mm.     

Determination of thermal residual strain in cabled optical fiber with high spatial resolution by Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry

The thermal residual strain induced in the cabled optical fiber is a very important factor for evaluating the reliability of optical fiber cables. In order to determine the distributed thermal residual strain in cabled optical fiber, a measurement method based on Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry (BOTDR) system is proposed in the article. Thermal characteristics of residual strain along cabled optical fibers are investigated theoretically and experimentally based on Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) detection. The thermal residual strain along the cabled fiber, if any, can be determined with a high spatial resolution that is equal to that of the BOTDR system and can be less than a few meters. A double-coated fiber in loose optical cable was used as the test cabled optical fiber, and the experimental results were in good agreement with those predicted from the theory. It has been found that the fiber residual strain increases linearly with decreasing temperature in the range from 50 to ?50 °C.     

Potential of Brillouin scattering in polymer optical fiber for strain-insensitive high-accuracy temperature sensing

We investigated the dependences of Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) on strain and temperature in a perfluorinated graded-index polymer optical fiber (PFGI-POF) at 1.55 μm wavelength. They showed negative dependences with coefficients of -121.8 MHz/% and -4.09 MHz/K, respectively, which are -0.2 and -3.5 times as large as those in silica fibers. These unique BFS dependences indicate that the Brillouin scattering in PFGI-POFs has a big potential for strain-insensitive high-accuracy temperature sensing.     

Rayleigh scattering-assisted narrow linewidth Brillouin lasing in cascaded fiber

We report a single frequency lasing phenomenon with a narrow linewidth of ～3 kHz in cascaded fiber that is composed of three types of low-loss communication fibers. The Rayleigh scattering of the Brillouin Stokes light created in the middle fiber section along both directions is enhanced by the other two fiber sections. When the Brillouin gain of the middle fiber exceeds the effective loss of the Brillouin stokes light in a roundtrip, a narrow linewidth lasing is observed on the top of the Brillouin spectrum line of the middle fiber. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report on Rayleigh scattering-assisted Brillouin lasing with single frequency and narrow linewidth in cascaded low-loss communication fibers.     

一种基于暗脉冲光布里渊时域分析仪的延长传感距离的方法

基于暗脉冲的布里渊时域分析仪系统中泵浦光和探测光的功率较高,相互作用强烈,严重限制了系统的有效传感距离。而现有的系统众多采用利用多段具有不同布里渊散射频率的光纤相互连接延长传感距离的方法,降低每段光纤上的受激布里渊散射效应,延长有效传感距离,但这种方案会增加的系统的复杂度,影响实际应用.本文提出一种简单的暗脉冲光布里渊时域分析仪的结构,可在满足高空间分辨率的条件下,有效的延长系统的传感距离,取代通常的利用多段具有不同布里渊散射频率的光纤相互连接延长传感距离的方法.利用基于光抑制载波的技术,产生具有两个边带的斯托克斯光.斯托克斯光的两个边带和泵浦光相互作用,同时激发布里渊散射增益和衰减效应,在接收端利用两者接收信号的差,可抵消原有暗脉冲泵浦信号中准连续光对传感距离的影响,从而有效地延长系统的传感距离,并利用数值仿真的方法验证了此方法的有效性.     

Bi-directional dual-wavelength Brillouin lasing in a hybrid fiber ring cavity

In this paper, a novel Brillouin fiber laser (BFL) is proposed based on the hybrid fiber ring cavity composed of two types of fibers with different Brillouin shifts. Single mode fiber (SMF) and truewave fiber (TWF) are used in our experiments. Bi-directional dual-wavelength Brillouin lasing is achieved in the hybrid fiber ring cavity. The lasing lights along the two directions come from the Stokes waves generated in the two fibers, respectively, with different Brillouin shifts, however, they share the same fiber ring cavity. The BFL based on the hybrid fiber ring cavity provides a simple possible way to realize Brillouin fiber optical gyroscopes (BFOGs) without lock-in effect.     

Analysis and simulation of single-frequency Raman fiber amplifiers

High power operation of single-frequency Raman fiber amplifiers is usually limited by the onset of stimulated Brillouin scattering. A theoretical investigation on single-frequency Raman fiber amplifier limited by stimulated Brillouin scattering is presented in this paper, based on the intensity equations combining stimulated Brillouin scattering and stimulated Raman scattering. A combination of methods is proposed to increase the output power of single-frequency Raman fiber amplifier. These methods include applying a suitable pump scheme according to the fiber length and seed signal power, using short gain fibers, utilizing a multiple-stage scheme and providing suppression of stimulated Brillouin scattering.     

Effect of Brillouin slow light on distributed Brillouin fiber sensors

The effect of Brillouin slow light on distributed Brillouin fiber sensors (DBFSs) is studied. We demonstrate Brillouin slow light for a 1.2 ns pulse with peak powers (PS) from 3.3 to 56.2 mW on depletion of the pump power (PP) ranging from 1.3 to 83.2 mW in conventional optical fibers (SMF-28). Experiments show that, when pump power depletion is not negligible, for a given PP the Brillouin gain and delay time of a pulse decrease when PS increases in a long (> or =10 km) sensing fiber. The optimum pump beam depletion resulting from strong interaction of the pump and the probe in the fiber provides accurate temperature and strain information at a high spatial resolution. Our study reveals that at low PP the spatial resolution error caused by the pulse delay for a DBFS with centimeter spatial resolution is less than 5% of the pulse length.     

Full modal analysis of the Brillouin gain spectrum of an optical fiber

We present a numerical study of stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers based on a full modal analysis of the acoustic and optical properties. The computation of each acoustic mode supported by the fiber structure allows us an accurate and detailed investigation of the characteristics of the Brillouin gain spectrum. We focus our attention on the contribution of the higher-order acoustic modes which are sometimes ignored because of computational issues in particular on optical fibers that act as acoustic antiwaveguides. Our analysis clearly highlights their role and their dependence on the physical and geometrical structure of the fiber.     

Investigation of Brillouin effects in small-core holey optical fiber: lasing and scattering

We demonstrate for what is believed to be the first time a Brillouin laser based on a holey fiber (HF). Using a simple Fabry-Perot resonator scheme containing a 73.5-m-long highly nonlinear HF with an effective area of 2.85 microm(2) , we obtain a threshold of 125 mW and a slope efficiency of ~70% . Stimulated and spontaneous Brillouin scattering effects are investigated in the HF, and we show that the high lasing threshold is due mainly to reduction of the effective gain coefficient caused by structural nonuniformity along the fiber length.     

高功率梯度掺杂增益光纤温度特性理论研究

在高功率光纤激光器中, 增益光纤的热效应是限制激光功率进一步提高的重要因素之一. 为了降低增益光纤的最高温度, 提出了一种通过改变增益光纤的掺杂浓度分布, 分散光纤激光的热效应, 从而提高激光输出功率的方法. 基于速率方程模型和热传导模型, 在光纤激光放大器输出功率大致相当的情况下, 对几种不同掺杂方式下增益光纤中的热分布和放大器的输出功率进行了数值模拟. 研究结果表明: 增益光纤的梯度掺杂可以优化光纤中的温度分布并提高光纤熔接点的稳定性; 同时兼具提高输出光束的光束质量、抑制光纤中非线性效应和模式不稳定的效果, 是提高光纤激光放大器输出功率切实可行的办法. 研究结果可以为高功率光纤激光器中增益光纤的设计提供一定的参考.     

High-gain Brillouin amplification: an analytical approach

We derive a closed-form approximate analytical formula for the gain of a Brillouin fiber amplifier operating in the depleted pump regime. We take into account the material loss of the medium, which is a strong effect in optical fibers. We validate obtained results numerically and experimentally. The presented analysis can be used to accurately predict the performance of high-gain Brillouin fiber amplifiers.     

Comparative study on reduced impacts of Brillouin pump depletion and nonlinear amplification in coded DBA-BOTDA

The impacts of Brillouin pump depletion and nonlinear amplification in coded long-range Brillouin optical time-domain analysis(BOTDA) based on distributed Brillouin amplification(DBA) were studied. The error of Brillouin frequency shift(BFS) due to Brillouin pump depletion was compared for DBA-BOTDA using non-cyclic and cyclic coding. For non-cyclic coding, significant over-and under-shoots of BFS were found in the range with larger BFS variation, such as hot spot. The impact of Brillouin pump depletion can be reduced considerably by cyclic coding. Furthermore, to compensate the BFS error due to nonlinear amplification,a simple and effective log linearization was proposed and demonstrated.     

Characterization of stimulated Brillouin scattering in small core microstructured chalcogenide fiber

We report a full modal characterization of the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) properties in small core As₂Se₃-based chalcogenide photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). Our results include the calculation of Brillouin gain spectrum (BGS), Brillouin gain coefficient (g_B), Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) by taking into account the contribution of the higher-order acoustic modes. We show that for a highly nonlinear PCF having a 2-μm hole-to-hole pitch and a 0.5-μm hole diameter, a Brillouin gain coefficient g_B = 5.91 10^? 9 m.W^? 1 is obtained around the acoustic frequency of 8.19 GHz, which is more than 340 times larger than that of the same PCF made with silica glass. We demonstrate that the BGS of small core PCF structures show strong SBS and multipeaked behavior, with a presence of a second peak, when decreasing the core diameter which is to be attributed to the higher-order acoustic modes. We designed small core PCFs with tailored Brillouin response for a wide range of applications.     

毫米级高分辨率的混沌激光分布式光纤测温技术

近年来,随着分布式光纤传感技术在各大基础设施健康监测领域的广泛应用,人们对能够实现毫米量级精准定位和监测技术的需求日益增长.本文提出了一种基于宽线宽混沌激光的高分辨率分布式光纤测温技术.实验通过改变光反馈混沌源的偏振匹配态和反馈强度等外部参数,产生了–3 dB线宽约为7.5 GHz的宽线宽混沌激光,并在300 m传感光纤实现了空间分辨率为7.05 mm的分布式温度测量.同时,为了抑制光源线宽增加造成的布里渊增益谱恶化,在泵浦路中引入了时间门控技术,其中经脉冲调制后的泵浦光峰值功率提高了约9.5 dB,同时脉冲调制使混沌互相关锁定于脉冲持续时间内,从而布里渊增益谱的信号背景噪声比由约2.28 dB提升为4.55 dB,最终实现了空间分辨率为3.12 mm的分布式温度测量.     

Guided acoustic wave Brillouin scattering in photonic crystal fibers

We experimentally investigate guided acoustic wave Brillouin scattering in several photonic crystal fibers by use of the so-called fiber loop mirror technique and show a completely different dynamics with respect to standard all-silica fibers. In addition to the suppression of most acoustic phonons, we show that forward Brillouin scattering in photonic crystal fibers is substantially enhanced only for the fundamental acoustic phonon because of efficient transverse acousto-optic field overlap. The results of our numerical simulations reveal that this high-frequency phonon is indeed trapped within the fiber core by the air-hole microstructure, in good agreement with experimental measurements.     

Distributed measurement of chromatic dispersion by four-wave mixing and Brillouin optical-time-domain analysis

A new nondestructive method for measuring the spatial distribution of chromatic dispersion along an optical fiber is presented. It is based on using Brillouin optical time-domain analysis to probe the power distribution of the four-wave mixing generated by two continuous-wave lasers. The results obtained prove that this new method is capable of providing better performance than comparable techniques. Furthermore, sensing the variations of Brillouin gain maximum produces additional information about the fiber, such as presence of strain and concentration of GeO2.     

Temperature dependence of Brillouin frequency, power, and bandwidth in panda, bow-tie, and tiger polarization-maintaining fibers

We report a study of the temperature dependence of the Brillouin gain and loss for three different kinds of commercial polarization-maintaining fibers for the first time to our knowledge. The Brillouin frequency differences between the fast and slow axes are independent of the temperature, varying between 2.9 and 4.3 MHz. Using 2-ns pulses (equivalent to a spatial resolution of 20 cm), we find that the temperature coefficients for the relative Brillouin power at a wavelength of 1310 nm are 0.26%/degrees C (panda fiber), 0.23%/degrees C (bow-tie fiber), and 0.04%/degrees C (tiger fiber); the temperature coefficients for the Brillouin frequency are 1.37 MHz/degrees C (panda), 1.66 MHz/degrees C (tiger), and 2.30 MHz/degrees C (bow-tie). The temperature coefficients for the Brillouin gain bandwidth are 0.15 MHz/degrees C (panda), 0.20 MHz/degrees C (bow-tie), and 0.22 MHz/degrees C (tiger).