Allan C. L. Wong

Highly sensitive bending sensor based on Er³⁺-doped DBR fiber laser

A short cavity Er(3+)-doped distributed-Bragg-reflector (DBR) fiber laser with a low polarization beat frequency has been demonstrated for bending measurement. The polarization beat frequency of the DBR laser is extremely sensitive to bending and can measure curvature changes as small as 1.8 x 10(-2) m(-1). Excellent agreement between experimental and theoretical results was obtained for bending curvatures from 0 m(-1) to 58.8 m(-1) with corresponding changes in beat frequency from 18.6 MHz to 253 MHz. The sensor is insensitive to temperature fluctuations and has a temperature coefficient of the beat frequency of -25.4 kHz/degrees C, making the temperature compensation unnecessary in most practical applications. The very low beat frequency of the DBR fiber laser makes frequency down-conversion unnecessary. This can greatly simplify the demodulation scheme and thus, allow the realization of low-cost but highly sensitive optical bending sensor systems.

Multiplexing of polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber based Sagnac interferometric sensors

Three multiplexing schemes are presented for polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber based Sagnac interferometric sensors. The first technique is wavelength division multiplexing using coarse wavelength division multiplexers (CWDMs) to distinguish signals from each multiplexed sensor in different wavelength channels. The other two schemes are to multiplex sensors in series along a single fiber link and in parallel by using fiber-optic couplers. While for the CWDM scheme, the multiplexed sensing signal can be obtained by direct measurement; for the other two multiplexing techniques, the sensing signal is more complex and cannot be easily demultiplexed. Thus, some signal processing methods are required. In this regard, two mathematical transformations, namely the discrete wavelet transform and Fourier transform, have been independently and successfully implemented into these two schemes. The operating principles, experimental setup, and overall performance are discussed.

Multiplexed fibre Fizeau interferometer and fibre Bragg grating sensor system for simultaneous measurement of quasi-static strain and temperature using discrete wavelet transform

We present a multiplexed fibre Fizeau interferometer (FFI) and fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensor system for simultaneous measurement of quasi-static strain and temperature. A combined spatial-frequency and wavelength- division multiplexing scheme is employed to multiplex the FFI and FBG sensors. A demodulation technique based on the discrete wavelet transform with signal processing enhancements is used to determine the measurand- induced physical changes of the sensors. The noise associated with the sensor signal is reduced by the block-level-thresholding wavelet denoising method, which is applied via the demodulation technique. This sensor system yields a high accuracy and resolution, and low crosstalk. It is well suited for long-term quasi-static measurements, especially for the structural health monitoring of large-scale structures.

Beat-frequency adjustable Er³⁺-doped DBR fiber laser for ultrasound detection

A compact low beat-frequency dual-polarization distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) fiber laser whose beat frequency can be varied, for high-frequency ultrasound detection has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The laser was fabricated in small birefringent commercial erbium-doped fiber. It operated in a robust single-longitude mode with output power of more than 1 mW and high signal-to-noise ratio better than 60 dB. Induced birefringence to the fiber during the UV inscription process is small (~10(-7)) and consequently the laser beats at a low frequency of ~20 MHz which is at least one order of magnitude smaller than previously reported results, making frequency down-conversion unnecessary. The beat frequency can be adjusted by controlling the side-exposure time of the UV light irradiating the gain cavity, providing a simple approach to multiplex a large number of DBR fiber lasers of different frequencies in series using frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technique. The proposed DBR fiber laser is also temperature insensitive, making it a good candidate for hydrophone applications.

Measurement of crack formation in concrete using embedded optical fibre sensors and differential strain analysis

Fibre Bragg grating sensors are embedded into concrete cylinders to monitor cracking deep within the specimens. Loading cycles and loading till failure tests are performed, with measurements from the sensors collected up to, and during, failure. Calibration of the off-axis angle of the optical fibre sensors is performed and the spread of this angle noted. The use of the bandwidth of the gratings to indirectly measure the differential strain across the grating, and thus the amount of internal cracking within the specimens, is proposed and tested. The results accord well with the theoretically predicted behaviour of bulk concrete.

Single-Mode Perfluorinated Polymer Optical Fibers With Refractive Index of 1.34 for Biomedical Applications

We demonstrate a technique for the fabrication of single-mode perfluorinated polymer optical fiber (PPOF). The PPOF preform is composed of poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA)-based outer cladding and a graded-index multimode PPOF as the core. A photosensitive graded-index single-mode PPOF with a core diameter of about 6.6 ¿m and cladding diameter of 400 ¿m was fabricated. The fiber has a cutoff wavelength of 854 nm and exhibits single-mode characteristics at wavelengths of 1310 and 1550 nm. The transmission loss is less than 0.2 dB/m in the wavelength range of 1410-1540 nm and less than 0.5 dB/m for wavelengths up to 1610 nm, significantly less than the typical transmission loss of ~100 dB/m for PMMA fiber. Another important feature of the PPOF is its low refractive index of 1.34, close to aqueous solution of biomaterials, permitting strong optical coupling for biomedical applications.

Simultaneous demodulation technique for a multiplexed fiber Fizeau interferometer and fiber Bragg grating sensor system.

We propose a demodulation technique for a multiplexed fiber Fizeau interferometer (FFI) and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor system using the discrete wavelet transform with signal processing enhancements. This simple and flexible demodulation technique determines the cavity length of FFI and the Bragg wavelength of FBG simultaneously and is especially suited for quasi-static measurements. We demonstrate this demodulation technique by performing some strain measurements, and a strain resolution of 1.0 microepsilon and an accuracy of 2.6 microepsilon are obtained. The maximum cross-talk of the sensor system is 6% of the applied strains.

Single tilted Bragg reflector fiber laser for simultaneous sensing of refractive index and temperature

A type of fiber laser, called tilted Bragg reflector fiber laser (TBR-FL), is proposed and its application in simultaneous sensing of surrounding refractive index (SRI) and temperature is demonstrated. This FL is formed by a pair of wavelength and tilt-angle matched tilted fiber Bragg gratings (TFBGs) that acted both as a resonant cavity and sensing element. A unique spectral feature of the TBR-FL is the presence of grating tilt-induced cladding modes spectrum that does not appear in other type of FL, which provides an extra sensing mechanism. By employing a simple experimental setup with the discrete wavelet transform as the demodulation technique, simultaneously sensing of SRI and temperature are achieved by measuring and analyzing the wavelet coefficients shifts of the laser output and averaged cladding modes.

Spectrally-overlapped chirped fibre Bragg grating sensor system for simultaneous two-parameter sensing

A spectrally-overlapped chirped fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensor system for simultaneous two-parameter sensing is presented. The chirped FBGs are amplitude-modulated in such a way that they can be spectrally overlapped with similar spectral characteristics, namely the centre Bragg wavelength and bandwidth. That is, the chirped FBGs are multiplexed via the spectral-overlap multiplexing scheme. Because of its compatibility with the wavelength division multiplexing scheme, the number of gratings to be multiplexed can be increased by several times. The multiplexed sensor signal is demultiplexed and demodulated using the discrete wavelet transform. The resolution, accuracy and crosstalk of the sensor system are investigated through strain measurements. The application of this sensor system is demonstrated through the simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature of a metal alloy plate.

Ultra-short distributed feedback fiber laser with sub-kilohertz linewidth for sensing applications

A low-noise, ultra-short linear-cavity distributed feedback fiber laser (DFB-FL) with extremely narrow linewidth is presented. The FL has a total length of 17 mm, which is, to our knowledge, the shortest DFB-FL being reported. It has a measured linewidth of merely 250 Hz without active stabilization. It has a polarization beat frequency of 101 MHz, which is several times lower than that of most FLs. The relaxation oscillation frequency and relative peak are 110 kHz and −76.5 dB/Hz, respectively. The FL exhibited low-noise characteristics, with an intensity noise of −107 dB/Hz at 1 MHz. Due to low dopant concentration of the EDF and low splice loss with ordinary single-mode fibers, the net insertion loss amounts to only 0.45 dB. Such low pump power loss greatly enhances the capability of multiplexing a large number of FL sensors. Thus, these ultra-short DFB-FLs open up new opportunities for the development of compact-sized point sensor array systems for large-scale high sensitivity sensing applications.