Self-Heterodyne Detection for SNR Improvement and Distributed Phase-Shift Measurements in BOTDA

Author

Zornoza, Ander ; Sagues, Mikel ; Loayssa, Alayn

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Univ. Publica de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

Volume

30

Issue

8

fYear

2012

fDate

4/15/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1066

Lastpage

1072

Abstract

In this paper we present a Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA) sensor that takes advantage of the enhanced characteristics obtained employing self-heterodyne optical detection combined with synchronous demodulation. By employing this technique we increase the sensitivity of the sensor and demonstrate experimentally a 10.75-dB enhancement in the SNR compared to conventional direct-detection systems. This detection scheme also enables distributed measurements of the Brillouin phase-shift in an optical fiber, which can lead to enhanced BOTDA schemes.

Keywords

Brillouin spectra; demodulation; fibre optic sensors; heterodyne detection; optical phase shifters; BOTDA; Brillouin optical time domain analysis sensor; SNR improvement; direct detection systems; distributed phase shift measurements; self heterodyne detection; self heterodyne optical detection; synchronous demodulation; Optical fiber sensors; Optical fibers; Probes; Radio frequency; Scattering; Signal to noise ratio; Temperature measurement; Brillouin scattering; coherent systems; fiber optics sensors; optical sensing and sensors; self-heterodyne detection;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JLT.2011.2168808

Filename

6029269