Research and analysis of Brillouin distributed sensing system based on quasi-single-mode few-mode fiber

Abstract

A distributed fiber sensor was fabricated by splicing two single-mode fibers (SMFs) using the few-mode fiber (FMF) technique. A Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA) system was developed to measure the sensor’s temperature and bending performance. Two-mode and four-mode step FMFs were combined to splice the few-mode segment. The results indicate that the temperature response coefficients of the few-mode segment are only slightly higher than those of the connected single-mode segment, measuring at 1.13 MHz/°C and 1.12 MHz/°C, respectively. The minimum bending radius for the sensor is 0.9 cm, and the four-mode bending response curve is superior to that of the two-mode one, proving that 4-SI-FMF offers better bending sensitivity.

References

[[1]] Hu D J J, Humbert G, Dong H, et al.. Review of specialty fiber based Brillouin optical time domain analysis technology[J]. Photonics, 2021, 8(10): 421,

[[2]] Feng T, Zhou J, Shang Y, et al.. Distributed transverse-force sensing along a single-mode fiber using polarization-analyzing OFDR[J]. Optics express, 2020, 28(21): 31253-31271,

[[3]] Gu K, Shi B, Liu C, et al.. Investigation of land subsidence with the combination of distributed fiber optic sensing techniques and microstructure analysis of soils[J]. Engineering geology, 2018, 240: 34-47,

[[4]] Dong Y. High-performance distributed Brillouin optical fiber sensing[J]. Photonic sensors, 2021, 11(1): 22,

[[5]] Liu Y, Li H, Wang Y, et al.. Damage detection of tunnel based on the high-density cross-sectional curvature obtained using strain data from BOTDA sensors[J]. Mechanical systems and signal processing, 2021, 158(3): 107728,

[[6]] Li H, Liu Y, Cao J, et al.. Investigation of the BOTDA technology for structural condition monitoring of urban tunnel[J]. IOP conference series: materials science and engineering, 2019, 603(4): 042003,

[[7]] Hu T, Hou G, Li Z. The field monitoring experiment of the roof strata movement in coal mining based on DFOS[J]. Sensors, 2020, 20(5): 1318,

[[8]] Li Y Q, An Q, Zhang L X, et al.. High-accuracy Brillouin frequency shift measurement system based on stimulated Brillouin scattering phase shift[J]. Optical engineering, 2017, 56(5): 056102,

[[9]] Shen L, Hao W, Zhao C, et al.. Distributed curvature sensing based on a bending loss-resistant ring-core fiber[J]. Photonics research, 2020, 8(2): 10,

[[10]] Zhang L X, Li Y Q, Tian M, et al.. Performance improvement method of single-ended BOTDA system based on Fresnel reflection[J]. Optoelectronics letters, 2022, 18(3): 170-174,

[[11]] Zuo M Q, Ge D W, Liu J X, et al.. Long-haul inter-modal-MIMO-free MDM transmission based on a weakly coupled multiple-ring-core few-mode fiber[J]. Optics express, 2022, 30(4): 5868-5878,

[[12]] Gupta R, Kaler R S. Nonlinear Kerr and intermodal four-wave mixing effect in mode-division multiplexed multimode fiber link[J]. Optical engineering, 2019, 58(03): 036108,

[[13]] Song K Y, Kim Y H. Characterization of stimulated Brillouin scattering in a few-mode fiber[J]. Optics letters, 2013, 38(22): 4841,

[[14]] Zhang Y J, Gao H L, Fu X H, et al.. Characterization of Brillouin scattering in a few-mode fiber[J]. Acta physica sinica, 2017, 66(2): 7

[[15]] Li Y Q, Li X J, An Q, et al.. New method to improve the performance of Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer system[J]. Acta optica sinica, 2015, 35(01): 69-78

[[16]] Eznaveh Z S, Lopez J E A, Zacarias J C A, et al.. All-fiber few-mode multicore photonic lantern mode multiplexer[J]. Optics express, 2017, 25(14): 16701-16707,

[[17]] Wang Y, Zhang C, Fu S, et al.. Design of elliptical-core five-mode group selective photonic lantern over the C-band[J]. Optics express, 2019, 27(20): 27979-27990,

[[18]] Li Y Q, Zhao X, Zhao L J, et al.. Brillouin scattering parameters of different modes in multimode optical fibers[J]. Acta photonica sinica, 2015, 44(3): 27-33

[[19]] Li Y Q, Fan H J, Zhang L X, et al.. Single-mode input fiber combined with multimode sensing fiber used in Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry[J]. Photonics, 2022, 9(6): 398,

[[20]] Li A, Wang Y F, Fang J, et al.. Few-mode fiber multi-parameter sensor with distributed temperature and strain discrimination[J]. Optics letters, 2015, 40(7): 12722-12732,

[[21]] Wu H, Wang R, Liu D, et al.. Few-mode fiber based distributed curvature sensor through quasi-single-mode Brillouin frequency shift[J]. Optics letters, 2016, 41(7): 1514-1517,

[[22]] Wu H, Tang M. Few-mode optical fiber based simultaneously distributed curvature and temperature sensing[J]. Optics express, 2017, 25(11): 12722,