Application of multimode fiber optical sensor in optical tomography technology

In this paper, an attempt to use a multimode optical fiber sensor in tomography is made. Two types of lens, one sphere and one cylinderical, are designed for two terminals of the fiber. It solves the problem of insufficient power collection of natural light beam using current fiber with polished terminals. A theoretical analysis of the relationships among the sphere lens radius, the cylinderical lens radius, the refractive index of the fiber is carried out. The relationship between the scanning angles and the number of the optical fibers is experimentally investigated in the air medium.     

Design of an optical fiber sensor for linear thermal expansion measurement

Design and operation of an optical fiber device for temperature sensing and thermal expansion measurement are reported. The modulated intensity has been measured by using a pair of 450 μm core fiber, one acting as the source and the other one as receiving fiber. In this design, the light intensity modulation is based on the relative motion of the optical fibers and a reflective coated lens. By using displacement calibration data for this sensor, the linear thermal expansion of the aluminum rod is determined. This sensor shows an average sensitivity of about 11.3 mV/°C for temperature detection and 7 μm/°C for thermal expansion detection. Device resolution for a linear expansion measurement is about 3 μm for a dynamic range of 600 μm corresponding to a temperature change of 100°C. The measured linear expansion results are checked against the expected theoretical ones and an agreement within ±2 μm is noticed. The operation of this sensor was also compared with other types and some advantages are observed, which verify the capability of this design for such precise measurements.     

Cleaving of solid single mode polymer optical fiber for strain sensor applications

Single mode polymer optical fibers (smPOFs) can be applied for measuring large strains in numerous applications, such as civil engineering infrastructure assessment and health monitoring. Because of the large light attenuation of solid smPOFs, small lengths of the fiber would need to be coupled to silica optical fibers (SOFs) for practical applications of the smPOF as a strain sensor. This coupling requires smooth cleaving of the smPOFs. In this work, several cleaving techniques previously demonstrated to provide smooth cross-sections of multimode POFs were applied to the smPOF. From these techniques, hot-knife cutting was determined to be a feasible method for cleaving when the blade was heated to 80 °C and the smPOF heated in the range of 30 °C to 40 °C. In addition, focused ion beam machining which produces high-precision cleaves of the solid smPOF cross-section, was performed to set a bench mark and thus evaluate the quality of cleaving from other methods used in this study.     

Distributed optical fiber bi-directional strain sensor for gas trunk pipelines

In this paper, we designed an optical fiber bidirectional strain gauge bonded on each single detecting point. Based on detecting single point of markedly different value from the remainder of the fiber, the loss-modulation approach is appropriately applied to monitoring the strain/deflection of pipelines in OTDR. It is worth noting that the distortion of pipelines can be measured partly by detecting the strain at the joint suitable to monitor gas trunk pipelines. The key technology for measuring both tensile strain and compressive strain is the pretreatment of bending the optical fibers on the two pairs of bending points, which can be identified by optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) if inserting time delay optical fiber.     

Design and performance of a plastic optical fiber leakage sensor

In this article design and operation of a plastic optical fiber (POF) sensor based on the unconventional light leakage from one fiber to another one causing intensity modulation are presented. The dominant loss mechanism was found to be the evanescent loss and based on this phenomenon the optical fiber sensor was designed. The penetration depth of evanescent wave as a function of different refractive index of cladding was calculated. Operation of this sensor was tested as a liquid level sensor for different liquids and the experimental results are compared. The dry (air interface layer) and wet output (liquid interface layer) signals for this probe were measured for a series of measurements and important factors concerning sensor operation are described. The precision of measured values, reproducibility of the results (1.35% error), and the stability of sensing operation as a function of time at different launching powers are also reported (0.85% error). The reported results for this design are promising and verify the successful operation of such a device as a liquid level probe and also as an on/off level switch.     

Controllable optical bistability and multistability in a rare-earth-ion-doped optical fiber

We investigated the optical bistability and multistability in an Er³⁺-doped ZrF₄–BaF₂–LaF₃–AlF₃–NaF optical fiber inside an optical ring cavity. It is found that the optical bistability and multistability can be easily controlled via adjusting properly the parameters of the corresponding system. Our scheme may provide some new possibilities for technological applications in optoelectronics and optical-fiber communication.     

Superposition of fiber Bragg and LPG gratings for embedded strain measurement

When a fiber Bragg grating strain sensor is embedded inside a structure, the interaction of the sensor with the host material can lead to spurious results if the radial strain is neglected. In this article, we use numerical simulations to show that the axial and radial strains can be simultaneously measured with a single fiber in which a Bragg grating and a long-period grating are superimposed. Moreover, we present an optimal architecture of the sensor.     

高分辨率光纤应变传感技术的研究

介绍光纤应变传感器中光纤端面反射镜的制作方法,镀膜光纤的连接技术和构成不对称光纤法布里－珀罗干涉腔的方法。应用低反射率不对称光纤法布里－ 珀罗干涉腔与光纤连接构成的光纤应变传感器,以提高分辨率;重点导出此干涉腔反射光与应变的数学模型,论述其工作原理和测量方法,通过实验证明文中所述应变传感原理和测量方法是正确的,其分辨率优于０－００６８με。     

Experimental verification of response of embedded optical fiber Bragg grating sensors in non-homogeneous strain fields

One of the advantages of optical fiber sensors is their ease of embedment within a structure for non-destructive strain monitoring. In particular, Bragg grating sensors are written directly into an optical fiber hence remaining unobtrusive. In addition, several gratings can be written in series along a single fiber, permitting sensing at discrete points throughout the strain field. However, in regions of strong strain gradients, measuring the strain at discrete points may not be sufficient. One solution is to write a Bragg grating longer than the strain region of interest and use the change in its spectral response to determine the applied strain field as a function of position along the fiber. This paper presents an experimental verification of the response of an embedded optical fiber Bragg grating (OFBG) to applied non-homogeneous strain fields. Optical fiber Bragg grating sensors were embedded in four epoxy specimens of different forms so as to apply known strain functions along the gauge length when the specimen is under uniaxial tension. The complete spectral response of the Bragg gratings was then measured as a function of increasing load. The results are compared with analytical calculations, based on the piecewise-uniform period assumption for chirped gratings. Finally, the use of these spectra is discussed as possible basis functions for the resolution of an arbitrary applied strain distribution.     

Design and operation of an evanescent optical fiber sensor

Design and operation of an optical fiber sensor based on the intensity modulation is reported in this article. Two distinct mechanisms are considered for the optical power loss and the sensor operation is explained in terms of these effects. The dominant loss mechanism is found to be the evanescent loss and based on this phenomenon the optical fiber sensor is designed. Performance of this sensor is tested as a liquid level sensor for water and the experimental results are reported. The dry and wet signals for this probe are measured for a series of measurements and important factors concerning the design and operation of sensor are described. The precision of measured values, reproducibility of the results, and the stability of sensing operation as a function of time are reported. Variation of the output reading of the sensor system for different launching power is also investigated. The output signal of an optical fiber sensor in general is nonlinear, but both the signal difference (dry minus wet) and diff/dry signal ratio for the reported sensor show linear dependence with the launching power at intensities below threshold. The reported results are promising and verify the successful operation of such a device as an on/off level switch and also as a liquid level sensor.     

Investigation of the performance of an SPR-based optical fiber sensor using finite-difference time domain

Finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method was used to investigate the performance of surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based optical fiber sensors. The results show that the performance of the fiber sensor can be optimized by choosing a proper combination of metal layer thickness of 40–60 nm and residual cladding thickness of 400–500 nm. Furthermore, the roughness effect of the gold surface layering the fiber sensor is significant in rough surfaces when sigma rms is greater than 5 nm or correlation length is lower than 100 nm.     

利用光纤传感器测定金属的线胀系数

将反射式光纤位移传感器应用于固体线膨胀系数测定仪,可以较精确地测定金属线胀系数.     

Study on the bend characteristics of single mode-multimode-single mode optical fiber structure

In this paper, the bend characteristics of the single mode-multimode-single mode (SMS) fiber structure are experimentally investigated. SMS fiber structure is very sensitive to the bend. The central wavelength shifts to shorter wavelength with the increasing of fiber bend angle. The central wavelength shift changes with the changing of multimode fiber(MMF) bend section length. The shorter bend MMF has higher sensitivity to the bend angle.     

Improvement of measurement range of optical fiber displacement sensor based on neutral network

By studying the output characteristics of random type optical fiber displacement sensor and semicircular type optical fiber displacement sensor, a sensor of new structure was designed. Using the ratio of the two output signals as the output of the whole system, the measurement range was enlarged, the linearity was improved, and the errors of reflective and absorbent changing in target surface are automatically compensated. Meantime, an optical fiber sensor model of correcting static error and linearizing the output curve based on BP artificial neural network was set up. The intrinsic errors such as fluctuations in the light, circuit excursion, the intensity losses in the fiber lines and the additional losses in the receiving fiber caused by bends were eliminated. By discussing in theory and experiment, the error of nonlinear is 2.9%, the measurement range reaches to 3.0 mm and the relative accuracy is 2%. This kind of sensor offers such advantages as no electromagnetic interference, simple construction, high sensitivity, good accuracy and stability.     

Intensity measurement based temperature-independent strain sensor using a highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber loop mirror

A fiber-optic strain sensor is demonstrated by using a short length of highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber (HiBi-PCF) as the sensing element inserted in a fiber loop mirror (FLM). Due to the ultralow thermal sensitivity of the HiBi-PCF, the proposed strain sensor is inherently insensitive to temperature. When a distributed-feedback (DFB) laser passes through the FLM, the output power is only affected by the transmission spectral change of the FLM caused by the strain applied on the HiBi-PCF. Based on intensity measurement, an optical power meter is adequate to deduce the strain information and an expensive optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) would not be needed.     

Acousto-optic generation of orbital angular momentum states of light in a tapered optical fiber

We demonstrate an acousto-optic mode converter based on a tapered optical fiber to efficiently generate orbital angular momentum states of light. In our scheme an acoustic wave is deployed to the waist of tapered optical fiber where two degenerate HE₂₁ modes leading to +1 and −1 orbital angular momentum eigen-modes are resonantly excited. The excitation of TM₀₁ and TE₀₁ modes is suppressed by enlarging the intermodal index difference between near-degenerate spatial modes. Numerical calculation for optimization of the taper diameter is provided. The experimental characterization of generated states is performed by analyzing the output far-field pattern and the spatial interference fringes with a uniform reference beam.     

Radio-frequency interrogation of a fiber Bragg grating sensor in the configuration of a fiber laser with external cavities

A fiber laser sensor, which consists of two coupled cavities based on three fiber Bragg gratings (two of them acting as sensing elements) and is interrogated via the longitudinal mode beating frequency, is presented. The two resonant cavities have lengths of 4250 m and 4297 m, respectively. Their beating frequency is of the order of 24 kHz, and its shift as a function of the variation of the period of one (or both) of the sensing gratings, induced by strain or temperature changes, can be measured by a radio-frequency analyzer. The system is suitable for long-distance sensing with high spatial resolution and high sensitivity.     

Add/drop applications in fiber ring networks based on a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer in a re-circulating loop

A periodic add/drop system in a fiber ring network was investigated using a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) in a re-circulating fiber loop. After seven cascaded add/drop nodes at every 150 km along the transmission, at bit error ratio (BER) equals to 10⁻⁹ and data rate of 10 Gbps, we observed a 2.5 dB power penalty for the passing through channels with 1050 km transmission distance, and 0.3 dB sensitivity penalty variation for the periodic add/drop channels at every 150 km, respectively.     

光纤传感阵列用于智能复合材料状态监测的研究

以光纤智能材料与结构中的损伤估计为目的,提出了一种新颖的、利用多模光纤缠绕尼龙筋式的传感器,由这种传感器组成的传感阵列可以对智能材料与结构的受力、应变等参量进行检测,并采用ＯＴＤＲ 技术实时处理其输出的并行分布式传感信号,给出了测试数据、识别结果。在复合材料构件上的初步实验表明此系统能够对结构的状态进行在线监测和估计,在航空航天、船舶工业和土木建筑等领域有着潜在的实用价值。