Multipoint monitoring of amplitude, frequency, and phase of vibrations using concatenated modal interferometers

Concatenated modal interferometers-based multipoint monitoring system for detection of amplitude, frequency, and phase of mechanical vibrations is proposed and demonstrated. The sensor probes are fabricated using identical photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sections and integrated along a single fiber channel to act as a compact and efficient sensing system. Each identical probe acts as a modal interferometer to generate a stable interference spectrum over the source spectrum. In the presence of an external dynamic field about each probe, the probes respond independently, producing a resultant signal superposition of each interferometer response signal. By analyzing the resultant signals using computational techniques, the vibration parameters applied to each interferometer are realized. The sensing system has an operation range of 1 Hz-1 kHz with a sensitivity of 51.5 pm/V. Such a sensing system would find wide applications at industrial, infrastructural, and medical fronts for monitoring various dynamic physical phenomena.