Abstract

A new technique for distributed fiber-optic sensing is described. It is a wavelength-scanning method that uses, as a sensing element, a polarization-maintaining fiber illuminated with a white-light source. The distribution of the mode-coupling coefficient is determined by a new digital procedure with a fast-Fourier-transform algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that, when birefringence dispersion is taken into account, more than 300 elements can be resolved along the fiber.

© 1993 Optical Society of America

Distributed optical-fiber sensor for spatial location of mode coupling by using the optical Kerr effect

I. Cokgor, V. A. Handerek, and A. J. Rogers
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