Optical homodyne frequency domain reflectometer using an external cavity semiconductor laser

Author

Lee, C.W. ; Peng, E.T. ; Su, C.B.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX, USA

Volume

7

Issue

6

fYear

1995

fDate

6/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

664

Lastpage

666

Abstract

An external cavity traveling-wave semiconductor ring laser with narrow linewidth is used as a light source for research in frequency domain reflectometry. The optical frequency of the laser is linearly chirped by an intra-cavity phase modulator. The time-delayed reflection signal is mixed with a reference signal to produce a microwave frequency that indicates the position of the reflection. For optical fiber measurement, a spatial resolution of 30 m and a one-way dynamic range of 28 dB for Rayleigh backscattered light have been achieved.<>

Keywords

backscatter; chirp modulation; laser cavity resonators; light scattering; optical fibre losses; optical fibre testing; optical modulation; optical time-domain reflectometry; phase modulation; ring lasers; semiconductor lasers; 30 m; Rayleigh backscattered light; external cavity semiconductor laser; frequency domain reflectometry; intra-cavity phase modulator; microwave frequency; one-way dynamic range; optical fiber measurement; optical frequency; optical homodyne frequency domain reflectometer; spatial resolution; time-delayed reflection signal; traveling-wave semiconductor ring laser; Chirp modulation; Fiber lasers; Frequency domain analysis; Light sources; Masers; Optical modulation; Optical reflection; Reflectometry; Ring lasers; Semiconductor lasers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.388758

Filename

388758