Enhancing Distributed Sensing with a Dual-Brillouin-Peak Optical Fiber

A new single-mode optical fiber with two Brillouin gain peaks is designed and fabricated to increase the differences in the temperature and strain coefficients between the peaks. The gains of the two Brillouin peaks are at a similar level and the temperature coefficient difference is ~0.2 MHz/°C. The fiber is well suited for simultaneous temperature and strain measurement with reduced uncertainties in Brillouin distributed fiber sensing applications.

In an era of advanced sensing technologies, the dual–peak optical fiber emerges as a new practical solution for solving the strain-temperature cross-sensitivity that exists in almost all optical fiber sensors. Its potential spans across a multitude of fields, demanding precision over long distances and high resolutions. This groundbreaking technology is set to redefine the boundaries ofstrain Brillouin scattering based distributed fiber sensing.

Dual-Brillouin-peak single-mode optical fiber can measure both strain and temperature at the same time. This is a very useful feature for applications such as structural health monitoring, oil and gas exploration, and power transmission….we can determine both the strain and the temperature along the fiber.

This is different from conventional single-mode optical fibers, which have only one dominant Brillouin peak and can only measure either strain or temperature, but not both at the same time. The dual-Brillouin-peak optical fiber has several advantages over these methods. First, it simplifies the measurement system by reducing the number of components and connections. Second, it eliminates the need for calibration or compensation of the thermal expansion coefficient. Third, it increases the accuracy and resolution of the measurements by enhancing the Brillouin gain of the higher-order acoustic mode. It has potential applications in various fields that require long-distance and high-resolution sensing.
Enhancing Distributed Sensing with a Dual-Brillouin-Peak Optical Fiber
OFS Presentation Paper
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