Accurate monitoring of an interferometric fiber-optic sensor with a multimode semiconductor laser

A technique for monitoring interferometric sensors by correlation of the optical signal from the sensor with the signal from a phase-modulated reference interferometer is described. The technique is applied to temperature measurement with a fiber Fabry-Perot sensing head. We extend the 7 degrees C unambiguous measurement range obtained with a 1.3-mum laser diode as the light source to 43 degrees C by adding a second laser diode emitting at 1.55mum . Experimentally, a rms phase-measurement error of +/-0.28rad , corresponding to a temperature error of +/-0.32 degrees C , was achieved with a low-quality multimode Fabry-Perot laser. The phase error was improved to +/-0.14rad , corresponding to a temperature error of +/-0.16 degrees C , by use of a distributed-feedback laser diode.