X. Steve Yao

Long-range vibration sensor based on correlation analysis of optical frequency-domain reflectometry signals

We present a novel method to achieve a space-resolved long- range vibration detection system based on the correlation analysis of the optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) signals. By performing two separate measurements of the vibrated and non-vibrated states on a test fiber, the vibration frequency and position of a vibration event can be obtained by analyzing the cross-correlation between beat signals of the vibrated and non-vibrated states in a spatial domain, where the beat signals are generated from interferences between local Rayleigh backscattering signals of the test fiber and local light oscillator. Using the proposed technique, we constructed a standard single-mode fiber based vibration sensor that can have a dynamic range of 12 km and a measurable vibration frequency up to 2 kHz with a spatial resolution of 5 m. Moreover, preliminarily investigation results of two vibration events located at different positions along the test fiber are also reported.

Highly repeatable all-solid-state polarization-state generator

We report an all solid-state polarization-state generator that uses magneto-optic polarization rotators. The device can generate either five or six distinctive polarization states uniformly across a Poincaré sphere with repeatability better than 0.1 degrees. It is ideal for polarization analysis, swept-wavelength measurement, and monitoring of polarization-related parameters and signal-to-noise ratios of optical networks.

Compensation of laser frequency tuning nonlinearity of a long range OFDR using deskew filter

We present a simple and effective method to compensate the optical frequency tuning nonlinearity of a tunable laser source (TLS) in a long range optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) by using the deskew filter, where a frequency tuning nonlinear phase obtained from an auxiliary interferometer is used to compensate the nonlinearity effect on the beating signals generated from a main OFDR interferometer. The method can be applied to the entire spatial domain of the OFDR signals at once with a high computational efficiency. With our proposed method we experimentally demonstrated a factor of 93 times improvement in spatial resolution by comparing the results of an OFDR system with and without nonlinearity compensation. In particular we achieved a measurement range of 80 km and a spatial resolution of 20 cm and 1.6 m at distances of 10 km and 80 km, respectively with a short signal processing time of less than 1 s for 5 × 10(6) data points. The improved performance of the OFDR with a high spatial resolution, a long measurement range and a short process time will lead to practical applications in the real-time monitoring, test and measurement of fiber optical communication networks and sensing systems.

A novel method for determining and improving the quality of a quadrupolar fiber gyro coil under temperature variations

We introduce a parameter called pointing error thermal sensitivity (PETS) for quantitatively determining the quality of a quadrupolar (QAD) fiber coil under radial temperature variations. We show both analytically and experimentally that the pointing error of a fiber gyro incorporating the fiber coil is linearly proportional to the final radial thermal gradient on the coil, with PETS as the proportional constant. We further show that PETS is linearly proportional to another parameter called effective asymmetric length of the coil. By thermally inducing different radial thermal gradients on the fiber coil and measuring the corresponding pointing errors in a gyroscopic measurement setup, we can confidently determine the PETS of the fiber coil and its associated effective asymmetric length caused by imperfections in coil winding. Consequently, we are able to precisely trim the coil to achieve best thermal performance.

Method for improving the resolution and accuracy against birefringence dispersion in distributed polarization cross-talk measurements

We present a novel method for improving the spatial resolution and amplitude accuracy of distributed polarization cross-talk measurements in a polarization maintaining (PM) fiber against its birefringence dispersion. We show that the broadening of measured polarization cross-talk peaks caused by birefringence dispersion can be restored by simply multiplying the measurement data with a compensation function. The birefringence dispersion variable in the function can be obtained by finding the widths of measured cross-talk envelopes at known distances along the fiber. We demonstrate that this method can effectively improve spatial resolution and amplitude accuracy of the space-resolved polarization cross-talk measurements of long PM fibers.We present a novel method for improving the spatial resolution and amplitude accuracy of distributed polarization cross-talk measurements in a polarization maintaining (PM) fiber against its birefringence dispersion. We show that the broadening of measured polarization cross-talk peaks caused by birefringence dispersion can be restored by simply multiplying the measurement data with a compensation function. The birefringence dispersion variable in the function can be obtained by finding the widths of measured cross-talk envelopes at known distances along the fiber. We demonstrate that this method can effectively improve spatial resolution and amplitude accuracy of the space-resolved polarization cross-talk measurements of long PM fibers.

Accurate method for measuring the thermal coefficient of group birefringence of polarization-maintaining fibers.

We present a method to accurately measure the group birefringence variation with temperature in high-birefringence polarization-maintaining (PM) fibers using a distributed polarization analyzer. By analyzing polarization cross-talk peaks purposely induced at both ends of a PM fiber, the temperature coefficient of group birefringence can be accurately obtained. We confirm the theoretical prediction that the group birefringence of PANDA and TIGER PM fibers decrease linearly with temperature from -40 °C to 80 °C, and find that the temperature coefficients are -5.93 × 10(-7) °C(-1) and -5.29 × 10(-7) °C(-1) for two types of PANDA fibers, and -5.36 × 10(-7) °C(-1) for a TIGER fiber.

Measurements of the thermal coefficient of optical attenuation at different depth regions of in vivo human skins using optical coherence tomography: a pilot study

We present detailed measurement results of optical attenuations thermal coefficients (referenced to the temperature of the skin surface) in different depth regions of in vivo human forearm skins using optical coherence tomography (OCT). We first design a temperature control module with an integrated optical probe to precisely control the surface temperature of a section of human skin. We propose a method of using the correlation map to identify regions in the skin having strong correlations with the surface temperature of the skin and find that the attenuation coefficient in these regions closely follows the variation of the surface temperature without any hysteresis. We observe a negative thermal coefficient of attenuation in the epidermis. While in dermis, the slope signs of the thermal coefficient of attenuation are different at different depth regions for a particular subject, however, the depth regions with a positive (or negative) slope are different in different subjects. We further find that the magnitude of the thermal coefficient of attenuation coefficient is greater in epidermis than in dermis. We believe the knowledge of such thermal properties of skins is important for several noninvasive diagnostic applications, such as OCT glucose monitoring, and the method demonstrated in this paper is effective in studying the optical and biological properties in different regions of skin.

Note: Improving spatial resolution of optical frequency-domain reflectometry against frequency tuning nonlinearity using non-uniform fast Fourier transform

We propose using non-uniform FFT to minimize the degrading effect of frequency tuning nonlinearity of a tunable laser source (TLS) in an optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) system. We use an auxiliary interferometer to obtain the required instantaneous optical frequency of the TLS and successfully demonstrate 100 times enhancement in spatial resolution of OFDR with only a 20% increase in computation time. The corresponding measurement reflectivity sensitivity is better than -80 dB, sufficient to detect bending induced index changes in an optical fiber.

A 3D model for analyzing thermal transient effects in fiber gyro coils

We derive a generalized expression based on a three-dimensional (3-D) model to fully describe the dependence of the nonreciprocity in a fiber coil caused by temperature gradient along the axial, radial, and circumferential directions respectively. We use the finite element analysis method to numerically solve the partial differential equations describing heat transfer in the fiber coil and obtain the rate and angular errors induced by the thermal transient effect with a better accuracy. We show that the 3-D model can describe the thermal transient effects induced by both the symmetrical and asymmetrical temperature gradients, which is not possible using the traditional two-dimensional model. Finally, we validate the ability of the 3-D model for predicting the thermal transient behavior in the fiber coil by comparing numerical and experimental results. The 3-D model proves useful for the development of a testing system capable of characterizing symmetrical and asymmetrical temperature transient effects in the fiber gyro coil.

Improved beam uniformity in multimode fibers using piezoelectric-based spatial mode scrambling for medical applications

We improve the beam uniformity passing through multimode fibers using piezoelectric-based spatial mode scrambling. Both fiber squeezing and stretching techniques are applied and compared. A more than sixfold difference in the power intensity crossing the output beam profile without mode scrambling can be reduced to a <10% variation. The efficiency of collecting useful optical power for detection is also significantly improved. Such modules can find various applications in medical imaging, disease diagnosis, and local area networks.