Coherent self-heterodyne Brillouin OTDR for measurement ofBrillouin frequency shift distribution in optical fibers

Time domain reflectometry of spontaneously Brillouin scattered lightwaves in a single-mode optical fiber is demonstrated with a coherent self-heterodyne detection system employing a recently proposed frequency translator, a DFB laser diode, and erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. Since the probe pulse frequency is up-converted by the translator by an amount approximately equal to the Brillouin frequency shift, the self-heterodyne beat frequency can be reduced to a sufficiently low frequency in the IF band. The system enables one-end measurement of the Brillouin frequency shift distribution in optical fibers with a single way dynamic range (SWDR) of 16 dB and a frequency resolution of 5 MHz for a spatial resolution of 100 m     

Coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry usingphase-decorrelated reflected and reference lightwaves

We report a new scheme for coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry (C-OFDR) where the coherence length of the lightwaves does not limit the measureable fiber length. In this scheme, we use the beat spectrum which results when we mix reflected and reference lightwaves whose phases are not correlated. We demonstrated this scheme using a narrow-linewidth-lightwave source and an external electro-optical phase modulator. We measured Rayleigh backscattering and Fresnel reflections from a 30-Ion optical fiber, and achieved a spatial resolution of 5 m for two neighboring Fresnel reflectors located at the far end of the fiber. We estimated the expected spatial resolution and single-way dynamic range for our new scheme and show that it is capable of measuring long optical fibers with high-spatial resolution     

Coherent FMCW reflectometry using a temperature tuned Nd:YAG ringlaser

A long-coherence-length, diode-pumped, monolithic Nd:YAG laser operating at 1.32 μm is used to perform coherent FMCW (frequency-modulated continuous wave) reflectometry measurements. Compared with semiconductor-based lasers, the low phase noise of the Nd:YAG source offers greatly increased distance range combined with increased sensitivity to optical reflections. Measurement of Rayleigh backscatter from 50 km of fiber is demonstrated with over 60 dB of two-way optical dynamic range. Two-point spatial resolution is demonstrated to be better than 10 cm. This source and coherent measurement technique may have potential for both short and long-haul reflectometry applications     

Characteristics and reduction of coherent fading noise in Rayleighbackscattering measurement for optical fibers and components

The characteristics of fading noise in Rayleigh backscattering measurements made with coherent lightwaves such as in coherent-OTDR (optical time-domain reflectometry) and coherent-OFDR (optical frequency-domain reflectometry) are studied. The effects of frequency shift averaging on fading noise reduction are clarified theoretically, and the relationships between measurement accuracy and other parameters, such as spatial resolution and frequency variation range are derived. The calculated results of loss measurement accuracy are in good agreement with experimental data. The formula can also be applied to low-coherence interferometric OTDR     

FMCW反射计检测距离影响因素分析

频率调制连续波（FMCW）反射计以其高动态范围和窄的空间分辨率优势,在光网络检测、集成光路诊断和光纤传感等领域有着广泛的应用前景。在介绍FMCW反射计基本原理的基础上,分析了光源扫描重复频率、光源功率与FMCW反射计检测距离之间的关系,并探讨了光源相干长度和相位噪声对检测距离的影响。理论分析表明,当待测光纤的长度接近光源的相干长度时,中频信号和相位噪声之间的信噪比会急剧下降,所以FMCW反射计要使用高相干性的光源和一定的相位噪声补偿方法才能应用于长距离的光纤检测。     

Coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry for interrogation of bend-based fiber optic hydrocarbon sensors

The paper presents distributed fiber optic bending sensor for petroleum hydrocarbon leak detection based on coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry (C-OFDR) technique. In order to introduce bending losses a sensitive polymer, which reversibly swells under hydrocarbon influence is employed. In this work we used lumped reflectors, namely fiber Bragg gratings, placed between distributed sensitive elements. Design of proposed sensor utilizes the principle of distributed detection with section localization (DDSL) of perturbation. Analysis of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for multi-reflectors system was performed. We have demonstrated that the C-OFDR technique with bending sensor is capable to detect hydrocarbon presence within a few minutes for 20-cm perturbation-length with spatial resolution about 0.5 m for strong perturbation.     

Optical coherence domain reflectometry by synthesis of coherencefunction with nonlinearity compensation in frequency modulation of alaser diode

Optical coherence domain reflectometry (OCDR) is proposed by synthesis of the coherence function for high-spatial-resolution diagnoses of optical systems and waveguide devices. By changing the output frequency of a laser diode using its direct frequency modulation characteristic, the coherence function having the shape of a delta function is synthesized. In the basic experiments, the reflectivity distribution is measured successfully by sweeping the position of the peak. Nonlinearity compensation in the direct frequency modulation is experimentally demonstrated in order to improve the resolution. A three-electrode DFB laser diode with wide-frequency tunable range is introduced as the light source. A spatial resolution of 2-4 mm in air is demonstrated. The measurement range flexibility of this method is confirmed in the experiments     

Characterization of 1050-nm Pumped S-Band TDFA With Different Dopant Concentrations by Coherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry

For thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) design, knowledge of the gain distribution within the active fiber is of great value. For the first time, the distributed gain along highly thulium-doped fibers was measured with high-resolution reflectometry. The technique of coherent optical frequency-domain reflectometry is a nondestructive and noninvasive method well matched to this task due to its dynamic range, spatial resolution, and measurement range. Using thulium-doped fibers with different Tm³⁺-dopant concentrations, we show precise measurements of Rayleigh backscattering levels for obtaining the optimum gain-length ratio for S-band TDFA pumped by 1050-nm laser diodes     

Optical time domain reflectometry using an M-ary FSK probe andcoherent detection

This paper proposes a new approach to enhancing the performance of optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR). This approach launches a probe signal modulated in the M-ary FSK format into a test fiber and detects the backscattering by coherent detection, which offers excellent frequency discrimination, followed by simple signal processing to recover the fiber impulse response. Fault location experiments verify the theoretical prediction of that the proposed approach reduces the measurement time to 1/M without sacrificing measurable dynamic range or spatial resolution. They also show that the approach is effective in reducing fluctuations in the OTDR trace. It is experimentally confirmed that OTDR with the proposed approach is feasible for long haul transmission systems     

Linearizing optical frequency-sweep of a laser diode for FMCWreflectometry

We propose and demonstrate a novel linearizing method of optical frequency-sweep of a laser diode for frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) reflectometry. In order to linearly sweep the optical frequency, we adopt a reference interferometer and an electric phase comparator. The interference beat signal of the reference interferometer is phase-compared with an external reference rectangular signal having a fixed frequency near the interference beat signal frequency by a lock-in amplifier. The error signal from the lock-in amplifier is fed back to the modulating signal of the injection current of the laser. Thus, a phase-locked loop composed of optical and electric circuits can be established, and the beat signal frequency is locked to the frequency of the reference signal. The optical frequency of the laser diode is, therefore, excellently linearly swept in time. In order to experimentally confirm the linearity of the proposed method, we apply this frequency-swept laser diode to the FMCW reflectometry. Resultingly, the improvement of the linearity is estimated to be about 10 dB. And the theoretically limited spatial resolution of the FMCW reflectometry is achieved. The backscattered light in optical waveguide devices is measured by the FMCW reflectometry using the proposed light source, and the propagation loss of a single-mode glass waveguide is successfully evaluated     

Novel Technique to Improve Spatial Resolution in Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry

A novel Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry (BOTDR) system, called a double-pulse BOTDR (DP-BOTDR) system, is proposed for measuring distributed strain and temperature in a fiber with a sub-meter spatial resolution. Our experiment confirmed that the DP-BOTDR system enables us to measure the distributed Brillouin frequency shift, i.e., the distributed strain and temperature, with a spatial resolution of 20 cm. This spatial resolution is five times better than that provided by the conventional single-pulse BOTDR system.     

One-End-Access High-Speed Distributed Strain Measurement with 13-mm Spatial Resolution Based on Brillouin Optical Correlation-Domain Reflectometry

We demonstrate a one-end-access high-speed distributed strain sensing with high spatial resolution in optical fibers based on Brillouin optical correlation-domain reflectometry. In this work, Brillouin frequency shifts (BFSs) of a 3-cm fiber section are measured with 13-mm spatial resolution and 50-Hz sampling rate. To our knowledge, this spatial resolution is the best result ever reported in Brillouin scattering-based reflectometers, and is superior to that obtained in Brillouin optical time-domain analyzers, though the signal-to-noise ratio is deteriorated. Data processing to find the peak in the Brillouin spectrum is newly introduced to show directly the BFS with a sampling rate of 19 Hz, and the measurement of vibrated strains at frequencies of up to 4 Hz is presented under 22-cm resolution.      

Nonlinearity-Compensation-Free Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry Based on Electrically-Controlled Optical Frequency Sweep

A nonlinearity-compensation-free optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) scheme is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on the electrically-controlled optical frequency sweep. In the proposed scheme, the linear frequency sweep light is generated by propagating an ultra-narrow-linewidth continuous-wave (CW) light through an electro-optic frequency shifter which consists of a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) and an electronic 90° hybrid, where the electro-optic frequency shifter is driven by a linear frequency modulated signal generated by a direct digital synthesizer (DDS). Experimental results show that the spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the proposed OFDR scheme without the nonlinear phase compensation are comparable to those of OFDR employing a commercial tunable laser source (TLS), an auxiliary interferometer, and a software-based nonlinear phase compensation method. The proposed OFDR scheme is helpful to reduce the complexity of the optical structure and eliminate the difficulty of developing the nonlinear phase compensation algorithm.     

Millimeter-resolution optical time-domain reflectometry using afour-wave mixing sampling gate

We report an optical time-domain reflectometer that employs an ultrafast optical switch based on nondegenerate four-wave mixing in a semiconductor laser amplifier. Two-point spatial resolution on the order of 1 mm over 2 m is demonstrated; Fresnel reflections with optical return losses greater than 53 dB are detected. Submillimeter-resolution optical time-domain reflectometry over a 100-m range should be possible with modifications to the pulse sources     

Return loss measurements of WDM filters with tunable coherent optical frequency-domain reflectometry

Reflectivity measurements of wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) filters were performed with polarization independent coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry (C-OFDR). The spectral resolution of 0.012 mn allowed to characterize side lobe spacing and reflectivity with 90-dB dynamic range. The off-channel reflectivity was also measured for estimating the interchannel crosstalk in WDM systems and the experimental results were fitted to a theoretical equation, extracting the physical parameters of the filter.     

Optical homodyne frequency domain reflectometer using an externalcavity semiconductor laser

An external cavity traveling-wave semiconductor ring laser with narrow linewidth is used as a light source for research in frequency domain reflectometry. The optical frequency of the laser is linearly chirped by an intra-cavity phase modulator. The time-delayed reflection signal is mixed with a reference signal to produce a microwave frequency that indicates the position of the reflection. For optical fiber measurement, a spatial resolution of 30 m and a one-way dynamic range of 28 dB for Rayleigh backscattered light have been achieved     

Distributed beatlength measurement in single-mode fibers with optical frequency-domain reflectometry

The polarization dependence of the coherent detection in optical frequency-domain reflectometry can be exploited to measure the local beatlength along an optical fiber. Reproducibility of the results is given for high and low polarization-mode coupling fibers, and the influence of several effects on beatlength measurement precision, such as spatial reflectometer resolution, fiber twist, and the presence of circular birefringence, is discussed. The experimental results seem to indicate that the typical assumption that the fiber birefringence can be treated as purely linear might not be fully justified. Beatlength overestimates of 10% and more can result.     

Phase-modulating optical coherence domain reflectometry bysynthesis of coherence function

Phase-modulating optical coherence domain reflectometry by synthesis of the coherence function is proposed as a promising method for diagnosing optical waveguide devices and systems, and basic experiments are carried out. In this method, a delta-function-like optical coherence function is synthesised by the direct frequency modulation of a laser diode, and scanned by the phase modulation of a reference lightwave in an interferometer. A spatial resolution of ~1.8 mm is achieved with ~18 cm measuring range in basic experiments     

Analysis of the polarization evolution in a ribbon cable usinghigh-resolution coherent OFDR

Exploiting the inherent polarization dependence and good spatial resolution of optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR), the beatlength in a ribbon fiber can be straightforwardly measured. The results clearly show the different amount of polarization ordering for inner and outer ribbon fibers due to the stress-induced birefringence from the common outer coating     

Reflectometry by means of optical-coherence modulation

Novel reflectometry with millimetre or submillimetre spatial resolution is proposed to evaluate optical components or circuits. The optical coherence is modulated to have a periodic delta-function shape along the optical path, and the backscattering intensity is obtained directly. The experiment demonstrates a resolution of about 10 mm in air with a Fabry-Perot laser diode.<>