Laser-Self-Mixing Fiber Sensor for Integral Strain Measurement

Laser-self-mixing has been successfully applied to measuring both mechanical and thermal deformations in single-mode optical fibers attached to a solid bar. Strain resolution of has been achieved in a continuous range spanning three orders of magnitude. Temperature compensation is not necessary if deformations/vibrations occurred on a time scale faster than environmental thermal changes. A calibrated fiber thermometer has been implemented to correct for the temperature induced phase drift in case of thermal deformations.