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Incoherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry Based on Homodyne Electro-Optic Downconversion for Fiber-Optic Sensor Interrogation

Fiber-optics sensors using interrogation based on incoherent optical frequency-domain reflectometry (I-OFDR) offer benefits such as the high stability of interference in the radio-frequency (RF) domain and the high SNR due to narrowband RF detection. One of the main impairments of the technique, how...

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Autores principales: Clement, Juan, Maestre, Haroldo, Torregrosa, Germán, Fernández-Pousa, Carlos R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6539806/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31060248
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19092075
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author Clement, Juan
Maestre, Haroldo
Torregrosa, Germán
Fernández-Pousa, Carlos R.
author_facet Clement, Juan
Maestre, Haroldo
Torregrosa, Germán
Fernández-Pousa, Carlos R.
author_sort Clement, Juan
collection PubMed
description Fiber-optics sensors using interrogation based on incoherent optical frequency-domain reflectometry (I-OFDR) offer benefits such as the high stability of interference in the radio-frequency (RF) domain and the high SNR due to narrowband RF detection. One of the main impairments of the technique, however, is the necessity of high-frequency detectors and vector network analyzers (VNA) in systems requiring high resolution. In this paper, we report on two C-band implementations of an I-OFDR architecture based on homodyne electro-optic downconversion enabling detection without VNA and using only low-bandwidth, high-sensitivity receivers, therefore alleviating the requirements of conventional I-OFDR approaches. The systems are based on a pair of modulators that are synchronized to perform modulation and homodyne downconversion at a reference frequency of 25.5 kHz. In the first system, we attain centimeter resolution with a sensitivity down to −90 dB using the modulation frequency range comprised between 3.2 and 14.2 GHz. In the second, we measured, for the first time using this approach, Rayleigh backscattering traces in standard single mode fiber with resolution of 6 m and a sensitivity of −83 dB by use of the 10.1–30.1 MHz range. These results show the feasibility of these simple, homodyne downconversion I-OFDR systems as compact interrogators for distributed or quasi-distributed optical fiber sensors.
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spelling pubmed-65398062019-06-04 Incoherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry Based on Homodyne Electro-Optic Downconversion for Fiber-Optic Sensor Interrogation Clement, Juan Maestre, Haroldo Torregrosa, Germán Fernández-Pousa, Carlos R. Sensors (Basel) Article Fiber-optics sensors using interrogation based on incoherent optical frequency-domain reflectometry (I-OFDR) offer benefits such as the high stability of interference in the radio-frequency (RF) domain and the high SNR due to narrowband RF detection. One of the main impairments of the technique, however, is the necessity of high-frequency detectors and vector network analyzers (VNA) in systems requiring high resolution. In this paper, we report on two C-band implementations of an I-OFDR architecture based on homodyne electro-optic downconversion enabling detection without VNA and using only low-bandwidth, high-sensitivity receivers, therefore alleviating the requirements of conventional I-OFDR approaches. The systems are based on a pair of modulators that are synchronized to perform modulation and homodyne downconversion at a reference frequency of 25.5 kHz. In the first system, we attain centimeter resolution with a sensitivity down to −90 dB using the modulation frequency range comprised between 3.2 and 14.2 GHz. In the second, we measured, for the first time using this approach, Rayleigh backscattering traces in standard single mode fiber with resolution of 6 m and a sensitivity of −83 dB by use of the 10.1–30.1 MHz range. These results show the feasibility of these simple, homodyne downconversion I-OFDR systems as compact interrogators for distributed or quasi-distributed optical fiber sensors. MDPI 2019-05-04 /pmc/articles/PMC6539806/ /pubmed/31060248 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19092075 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Clement, Juan
Maestre, Haroldo
Torregrosa, Germán
Fernández-Pousa, Carlos R.
Incoherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry Based on Homodyne Electro-Optic Downconversion for Fiber-Optic Sensor Interrogation
title Incoherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry Based on Homodyne Electro-Optic Downconversion for Fiber-Optic Sensor Interrogation
title_full Incoherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry Based on Homodyne Electro-Optic Downconversion for Fiber-Optic Sensor Interrogation
title_fullStr Incoherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry Based on Homodyne Electro-Optic Downconversion for Fiber-Optic Sensor Interrogation
title_full_unstemmed Incoherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry Based on Homodyne Electro-Optic Downconversion for Fiber-Optic Sensor Interrogation
title_short Incoherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry Based on Homodyne Electro-Optic Downconversion for Fiber-Optic Sensor Interrogation
title_sort incoherent optical frequency-domain reflectometry based on homodyne electro-optic downconversion for fiber-optic sensor interrogation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6539806/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31060248
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19092075
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AT torregrosagerman incoherentopticalfrequencydomainreflectometrybasedonhomodyneelectroopticdownconversionforfiberopticsensorinterrogation
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