Distributed strain sensor based on dynamic grating in polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber

A novel distributed fiber-optic strain sensor based on dynamic grating in polarization-maintaining erbium-doped fiber (PM-EDF) is demonstrated experimentally. The dynamic grating is written with light beams polarized along one primary polarization axis of the PM-EDF, and read with a light beam polarized along the other primary polarization axis. When a strain is applied to the fiber, the detected Bragg reflection frequency of the dynamic grating shifts in proportion to the birefringence change, which is proportional to the strain. By employing the technique of synthesis of optical coherence function, the dynamic grating is localized in a region that can be shifted to sweep along the fiber to determine the location of the strain. In the experiment, a spatial resolution of 20 cm is demonstrated.