Distributed Strain and Temperature Measurement by Brillouin Beat Spectrum

A novel distributed strain and temperature measurement method based on Brillouin beat spectrum (BBS) in a complex index profile fiber are proposed. The BBS corresponds to the optical interaction of different acoustic modes. For a large-effective-area fiber (LEAF), the first peak of BBS is contributed by the first and second acoustic modes, while the second peak in BBS is contributed by the first and third accoustic modes. Through determining power changes in the peaks of BBS due to strain and temperature variation along a LEAF, the distributed strain and temperature can be measured by the homodyne Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry (BOTDR) without scanning the Brillouin spectrum. The strain and temperature at the end of a 4.5-km LEAF are measured at 3-m spatial resolution in 140 s.