Kazuo Hotate

Distributed strain measurement with millimeter-order spatial resolution based on Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis.

Distributed strain sensing with millimeter-order spatial resolution is demonstrated in optical fibers based on Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis. A novel beat lock-in detection scheme is introduced to suppress background noises coming from the reflection of Brillouin pump waves. The Brillouin frequency shifts of 3 mm fiber sections are successfully measured with a theoretical spatial resolution of 1.6 mm.

Distributed fiber Brillouin strain sensing with 1-cm spatial resolution by correlation-based continuous-wave technique

This letter describes improvement in the spatial resolution of distributed fiber Brillouin strain sensing by the correlation-based continuous-wave technique, which we proposed previously. The spatial resolution of 1 cm has been achieved for a partly stretched fiber. This result shows the technique is applicable to smart structures or materials as a nervous system to monitor strain distribution.

All-optical dynamic grating generation based on Brillouin scattering in polarization-maintaining fiber

We report a novel kind of all-optical dynamic grating based on Brillouin scattering in a polarization maintaining fiber (PMF). A moving acoustic grating is generated by stimulated Brillouin scattering between writing beams in one polarization and used to reflect an orthogonally polarized reading beam at different wavelengths. The center wavelength of the grating is controllable by detuning the writing beams, and the 3 dB bandwidth of approximately 80 MHz is observed with the tunable reflectance of up to 4% in a 30 m PMF.

Proposal of Brillouin optical correlation-domain reflectometry (BOCDR)

We propose a Brillouin optical correlation-domain reflectometry (BOCDR), which can measure the distribution of strain and/or temperature along an optical fiber from a single end, by detecting spontaneous Brillouin scattering with controlling the interference of continuous lightwaves. In a pulse-based conventional Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry (BOTDR), it is difficult in principle to achieve a spatial resolution less than 1 m, and the measurement time is as long as 5-10 minutes. On the contrary, the continuous-wave-based BOCDR can exceed the limit of 1-m resolution, and realize much faster measurement and random access to measuring positions. Spatial resolution of 40 cm was experimentally demonstrated with sampling rate of 50 Hz.

Complete discrimination of strain and temperature using Brillouin frequency shift and birefringence in a polarization-maintaining fiber.

This paper presents a novel method that realizes simultaneous and completely discriminative measurement of strain and temperature using one piece of Panda-type polarization-maintaining fibre. Two independent optical parameters in the fiber, the Brillouin frequency shift and the birefringence, are measured by evaluating the spectrum of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and that of the dynamic acoustic grating generated in SBS to get two independent responses to strain and temperature. We found that the Brillouin frequency shift and the birefringence have the same signs for strain-dependence but opposite signs for temperature-dependence. In experiment, the birefringence in the PMF is characterized with a precision of approximately 10(-8) by detecting the diffraction spectrum of the dynamic acoustic grating. A reproducible accuracy of discriminating strain and temperature as fine as 3 micro-strains and 0.08 degrees Celsius is demonstrated.

Effect of Rayleigh backscattering in an optical passive ring-resonator gyro

Resonance characteristics of Rayleigh backscattering in an optical passive ring-resonator gyro (OPRG) are theoretically formulated taking the temporal coherence of the optical source into account. This resonance has two peaks with separation equal to the Sagnac phase shift when rotation is induced. This phenomenon degrades the gyro’s linearity in a configuration to obtain the frequency output. Rayleigh backscattering also can induce an enhanced noise at specific input rotation rates. The methods of solving these problems are discussed. The theoretical limit of rotation sensing, given by the detector shot noise, is also computed taking into account the optical source coherence. A spectrum width narrower than several tens of kHz is required to realize the OPRG for navigation use.

25 GHz bandwidth Brillouin slow light in optical fibers

Broadband slow light is demonstrated by using stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers based on a double Brillouin pump, the peaks of which are spectrally separated by twice the Brillouin frequency. The loss spectrum generated by one of the pump waves is fully compensated by the gain spectrum of the other one, which permits the enlargement of the bandwidth to 25 GHz and a variable time delay of up to 10.9 ps with 37 ps pulses.

Monolithically integrated resonator microoptic gyro on silica planar lightwave circuit

We report a novel configuration of resonator microoptic gyro (MOG), which is monolithically integrated on silica planar lightwave circuit (PLC) with countermeasures for noise factors. Optical ring-resonator gyros suffer mainly from polarization fluctuation induced noise and backscattering induced noise. We discuss eigenstate of polarization in the waveguide to clarify behavior of the former and propose a countermeasure with control of the waveguide birefringence. As for the latter, binary phase shift keying (B-PSK) with a special signal processing is proposed. Thermooptic (TO) phase modulation is the only one scheme to apply B-PSK in the silica waveguide, whose bandwidth is limited to /spl sim/1 KHz. To utilize the narrow bandwidth of the TO modulator effectively, we propose an electrical signal processing scheme and a modulation waveform to compensate the frequency response. By constructing an experimental setup, suppression of the backscattering induced noise is demonstrated, and the gyro output is observed with applying an equivalent rotation.

Optical information processing by synthesis of the coherence function

We propose an optical parallel information processing technique adopting synthesis of the optical coherence function by using direct frequency modulation of a laser diode. The optical coherence function having a delta-function-like shape can be synthesized by modulating the laser frequency with an appropriate waveform. In this optical parallel information processing system, selective extraction of two-dimensional information from a three-dimensional semitransparent object, and other operations between two-dimensional information, can be carried out. This manner has no mechanical moving part, and there is no need for calculation by combining with holographic method. In this paper, the method to synthesize the optical coherence function is studied in detail. The manner to improve the suppression ratio of unnecessary subpeaks in the delta-function-like coherence function is studied both in theory and experiments. Moreover, notch-shaped optical coherence function is also studied. Selective extraction and selective masking of a two-dimensional information from a three-dimensional object was successfully performed in basic experiments. >

Highly efficient Brillouin slow and fast light using As 2 Se 3 chalcogenide fiber

We demonstrate the generation of slow and fast light based on stimulated Brillouin scattering in As(2)Se(3) chalcogenide fiber with the best efficiency ever reported. The Brillouin gain of 43 dB is achieved with only 60-mW pump power in a 5-m single-mode chalcogenide fiber, which leads to the optical time delay of 37 ns with a 50-ns Gaussian pulse.