Real-time distributed fiber microphone based on phase-OTDR.

The use of an optical fiber as a real-time distributed microphone is demonstrated employing a phase-OTDR with direct detection. The method comprises a sample-and-hold circuit capable of both tuning the receiver to an arbitrary section of the fiber considered of interest and to recover in real-time the detected acoustic wave. The system allows listening to the sound of a sinusoidal disturbance with variable frequency, music and human voice with ~60 cm of spatial resolution through a 300 m long optical fiber.

On-field distributed first-order PMD measurement based on pOTDR and optical pulse width sweep.

A method for PMD distributed localization and estimation based on polarization optical time domain reflectometer technique, pOTDR and pulse width sweep is used on-field for the first time. The method consists in launching light pulses with variable widths in an optical fiber under test and then analyzes the Rayleigh backscattered signal spatial power distribution after passing through a polarizer. Both localization and PMD magnitude are function of OTDR pulse width and can be obtained from the ripple analysis, enabling the characterization of the fiber links.

Simultaneous nominal and effective differential group delay in-service monitoring method for optical communications systems.

In this paper, we propose an in-service method to simultaneously monitor both nominal and effective values of differential group delay (DGD) in wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical communication systems, in a per channel basis. The method is based on coherent heterodyne detection of the optical signal. We have demonstrated that the technique is capable to recover nominal DGD values from 0 ps to 90 ps while, at same time, to provide the effective DGD parameter, related to the impairment of optical channels. The relationship between the Q factor and effective DGD was also demonstrated, both numerically and experimentally, for distinct nominal values of DGD inserted on the system, by varying the state of polarization (SOP) of the optical signal at the input of the DGD element.

Twin-core fiber sensor integrated in laser cavity.

In this work, we report on a twin-core fiber sensor system that provides improved spectral efficiency, allows for multiplexing and gives low level of crosstalk. Pieces of the referred strongly coupled multicore fiber are used as sensors in a laser cavity incorporating a pulsed semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Each sensor has its unique cavity length and can be addressed individually by electrically matching the periodic gating of the SOA to the sensor's cavity roundtrip time. The interrogator acts as a laser and provides a narrow spectrum with high signal-to-noise ratio. Furthermore, it allows distinguishing the response of individual sensors even in the case of overlapping spectra. Potentially, the number of interrogated sensors can be increased significantly, which is an appealing feature for multipoint sensing.