Note: reducing polarization induced sidebands in Rayleigh backscattering spectra for accurate distributed strain...

We describe a phenomenon called polarization-induced sidebands (PIS) in Rayleigh backscatter spectra (RBS) and discuss its deteriorating effects on the distributed strain measurement using an optical frequency-domain reflectometry. We propose using a special polarization diversity detection scheme to remove PIS and successfully demonstrate accurate distributed strain measurement in the range of 0.75 με-225 με in a 50 m standard single mode fiber, with a good linearity between the strain and the spectra shift in RBS.