Polarization division multiplexing pulse coding for eliminating the effect of polarization pulling in Golay-coded...

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Fiber Optic Sensing
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Polarization pulling is a significant challenge in Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA) fiber sensors, affecting measurement accuracy and stability.
• Existing methods for mitigating polarization effects may not be fully effective or introduce other complexities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and evaluate a novel approach for eliminating polarization pulling in Golay-coded BOTDA fiber sensors.
• To compare the effectiveness of polarization division multiplexing (PDM) pulse coding against traditional polarization switching and scrambling techniques.

Main Methods:

• Implementation and experimental comparison of three schemes: polarization switching, polarization scrambling, and PDM pulse coding.
• Utilizing Golay-coded pulses within the BOTDA framework.

Main Results:

• The proposed PDM pulse coding scheme significantly enhances sensing stability.
• Experimental results demonstrate an approximate 2.5-fold improvement in sensing stability compared to other methods.

Conclusions:

• PDM pulse coding offers a robust and effective solution for mitigating polarization pulling in BOTDA fiber sensors.
• The developed approach leads to more stable and reliable fiber optic sensing performance.