Highly birefringent microstructured optical fiber for distributed hydrostatic pressure sensing with sub-bar...

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Fiber Optics Sensing
• Materials Science

Background:

• Distributed sensing offers advantages over point sensing for monitoring physical parameters.
• Optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) is a key technique for fiber optic sensing.
• Existing fiber optic sensors face challenges in achieving high resolution and sensitivity for pressure measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate distributed optical fiber-based pressure measurements with high resolution and sensitivity.
• To design and characterize a novel microstructured optical fiber optimized for pressure sensing.
• To validate the performance of the designed fiber using phase-sensitive OTDR.

Main Methods:

• Design and fabrication of a highly birefringent microstructured optical fiber.
• Characterization of the fiber's pressure and temperature sensitivities at 1550 nm.
• Implementation of phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) for distributed measurements.
• Evaluation of birefringence uniformity and propagation loss.

Main Results:

• Achieved sub-bar pressure resolution and 1 m spatial resolution over ~100 m.
• Demonstrated high polarimetric pressure sensitivities (-62.4 and -40.1 rad×MPa⁻¹×m⁻¹).
• Observed low polarimetric temperature sensitivities (0.09 and 0.2 rad×K⁻¹×m⁻¹).
• Confirmed uniform birefringence and low propagation loss (~3 dB/km).

Conclusions:

• The novel microstructured optical fiber enables high-performance distributed pressure sensing.
• The developed technique allows for precise pressure monitoring over extended distances.
• This technology has potential for various applications requiring accurate, long-range pressure measurements.