Polarization effects in the Sagnac-Michelson distributed disturbance location sensor

Author

Chtcherbakov, Anatoli A. ; Swart, Pieter L.

Author_Institution

Fac. of Eng., Rand Afrikaans Univ., Johannesburg, South Africa

Volume

16

Issue

8

fYear

1998

fDate

8/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1404

Lastpage

1412

Abstract

An analysis, based on Jones calculus, is presented of polarization effects in the merged Sagnac-Michelson interferometric sensor for distributed disturbance detection. The nature of birefringence biasing in the Sagnac interferometer is clarified: the cosine-response of the Sagnac interferometer can be biased to a sine-response by introducing birefringence with retardation equal to π/2 in the Sagnac-loop. In addition, the input light should be linearly polarized and both the direction of polarization and the optical axes of the birefringence region should be oriented at π/4 with respect to the plane of the fiber-loop

Keywords

Michelson interferometers; birefringence; fibre optic sensors; optical fibre polarisation; optical fibre theory; Jones calculus; Sagnac-Michelson distributed disturbance location sensor polarisation effects; Sagnac-loop; birefringence; birefringence biasing; birefringence region; cosine-response; direction of polarization; distributed disturbance detection; fiber-loop plane; fibre optic sensors; linearly polarized; merged Sagnac-Michelson interferometric sensor; optical axes; retardation; sine-response; Birefringence; Optical fiber polarization; Optical fiber sensors; Optical fibers; Optical interferometry; Optical modulation; Optical scattering; Optical sensors; Optical signal processing; Sagnac interferometers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.704606

Filename

704606