A brief overview of fiber optic sensors

A few decades ago telecommunications had been revolutionized by fiber optic technology. This
revolution became a route as mass production techniques coupled with technical improvements
resulted in superior performance at lower costs than those of alternative approaches. Next to this
revolution emerged another one as a result of combination of the fiber optic telecommunication
product outgrowths with optoelectronic devices to create fiber optic sensors. These areas of
opportunities include the potential of replacing the majority of environmental sensors in existence
today as well as opening up entire markets where sensors with comparable capability do not exist.
The figures 1.1 and 1.2 provide a brief classification of the fiber optic sensors that can be
basically divided in two groups - extrinsic and intrinsic fiber optic sensors. Extrinsic fiber optic
sensors are distinguished by the characteristic that sensing takes place in a region outside the fiber.
There are also hybrid fiber optic sensors that are similar to extrinsic ones and can be thought of as
a "black box" sensors for which fiber are used to carry light to the box and back. Frequently the
two terms are applied interchangeably. A major distinction arises for the case of power by light
sensors when a light beam is used to power an electronic sensor and data are carried back via a
fiber optic data link. In this case the hybrid designation would appear to be more appropriate.
Figure 1.2 shows a diagram illustrating many of the intrinsic or all-fiber optic sensors. "Intrinsic"
and "all-fiber" indicate that the sensing takes place within the fiber itself. In this case the two
designations can be and commonly are used interchangeably. A large and important subclass of
intrinsic or all-fiber optic sensors are interferometric sensors. Many of the highest performance
sensors fall into this group. The fiber optic sensors of figures 1.1 and 1.2 have been grouped into
the categories that are representative of their most common current development and application.
It is apparent that virtually any environmental effect that can be conceived of can be converted
to an optical signal to be interpreted. The usual case that each environmental effect may be
measured by dozens of fiber optic sensors approaches. The key is often to design the sensor so that
only the desired environmental effect is sensed.
Initial penetration of fiber optic sensors into markets has been driven by performance
advantages. Fiber optic sensors offer an all-passive dielectric approach that is often crucial to
successful applications, inclusion the electrical isolation of patients in medicine, elimination of
conductive path in high voltage environments, and compatibility within materials. The lightweight
and small size of these devices are critical in such areas as aerospace and provide substantial
advantages to many products. Coupled to the issue of size and weight is immunity to the
electromagnetic interference. Conventional electrical sensors often require heavy shielding,
significantly increasing the cost, size, and weight. Environmental ruggedness provides key
opportunities for fiber optic sensors, including high-temperature operation and all solid state
configurations capable of withstanding extreme vibrations and shock levels. Completing these
attributes are high sensitivity and bandwidth of fiber optic sensors. When multiplexed into arrays
of sensors the large bandwidth of the optical fibers themselves offer distinct advantages in their
ability to transport resultant data.

Fig. 1.1. Schematic classification of extrinsic fiber optic sensors

Fig. 1.2. Schematic classification of intrinsic fiber optic sensors

2. Intrinsic distributed sensors

Intrinsic distributed sensors are particularly attractive for use in applications where monitoring
of a single measurand is required at a large number of points or continuously over the path of
fiber. Examples of application areas include for example
Stress monitoring of a large structures such as buildings, bridges, storage tanks, and the
like, and ships, oil platforms, aircraft spacecraft and so on
Temperature profiling in electrical power transformers, generators, reactor systems,
furnaces, press control systems, and simple fire detection systems
Leakage detection systems in pipelines, fault diagnostics and detection of
magnetic/electrical field anomalies in power distribution systems, and intrusion alarm systems
Embedded sensors in composite materials for use in the real-time evaluation of stress,
vibration, and temperature in structures and shells, especially in aerospace industry
In quasi distributed sensors configuration, the measurand is not monitored continuously along
the fiber path, but at a finite number of locations. This is accomplished by sensing the fiber locally
to a particular field of interest or by using extrinsic (bulk) sensing elements. This type of system
can be used in single-measurand monitoring applications, but it is also capable of multimeasurand
monitoring by sensitizing each sensor element to specific measurand field of interest. Application
areas for this form of sensors include those listed above, and various multimeasurand monitoring
applications such as those found in chemical, power and manufacturing industries.
A crucial role in the distributed sensing play the backscattering method usually called Optical
Time-Domain Reflectometry (OTDR). When light is guided by an optical fiber, loss occurs due to
Rayleigh scattering which arises as a result of random microscopic variations in the index of
refraction of the fiber core. A fraction of the light that is scattered in a direction 180 o to the
propagation axis of the light (backscattered light) is recaptured by the fiber aperture and returned
to the input end of the fiber (source). By pulsing the input optical signal to a length of fiber, and
monitoring the variation in the returned backscattered intensity, spatial variations in the fiber
scattering coefficient or cross section, or attenuation, can be determined. This is the basic principle
of the OTDR, which is a well established technique for fault/imperfection location and diagnostics
in fiber communications applications. In sensing applications, OTDR can be used to detect
localized measurand - induced variations in the loss or scattering coefficient of a continuous
sensing fiber. A detail analysis and theoretical description of OTDR will be given later.
The basic OTDR technique is essentially optical radar, and direct analogies between
conventional radar systems and optical ranging in distributed sensors have been recognized and
utilized in the development of a number of variant techniques. Other optical ranging techniques
suitable for use in sensing applications include
Coherent OTDR (CO-OTDR) - The week returned backscattered signal is mixed with a
strong coherent local oscillator optical signal to provide coherent amplification

 Correlation OTDR (COR-OTDR)

1
COR-OTDR based on pseudorandom signal
2
COR-OTDR based on Golay code signal
Low correlation OTDR (LC-OTDR)
Photon-Counting OTDR (PC-OTDR)
Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry (OFDR)
1
OFDR with the frequency scanning (OFDR-FS)
2
OFDR with the synthesized coherence function (OFDR-SCF)
Polarization OTDR (PO-OTDR)
The detail description of principles and characteristic features of the above listed variations of
OTDR and OFDR will be given in the following chapters.
Intrinsic distributed sensors based on Rayleigh backscatter utilize either the measuranddependent loss coefficient (z) or backscattering coefficient r(z) mechanism in a single length of
optical fiber which forms an extended sensor. The sensitivity of the fiber may be enhanced to a
particular measurand field, such as temperature, for example. Interrogation of this extended sensor
element using OTDR permits the spatial variation of the measurand to be derived from the output
information, thus allowing the measurand to be profiled within the OTDR spatial resolution along
the fiber length. Figure 2.1 shows the basic mechanisms that can be used in Rayleigh backscatterbased intrinsic distributed sensors.

Fig. 2.1. Simplified diagram of mechanisms that can be used in OTDR based sensor systems

The most basic form of intrinsic distributed sensor relies on the detection of regions of localized
excess loss, due to, for example, microbending. In the case of measurand-dependent loss, a
localized region of increased loss () due to perturbation of the fiber by the measurand field
(stress, temperature, external refractive index, etc.) causes a change in the slope of the detected
backscattered signal versus time-delay curve (OTDR curve) at a time delay corresponding to the
signal position of the perturbation.
Polarization optical time-domain reflectometry (PO-OTDR) is a variant of OTDR which was
the first to be proposed for use in sensing applications. Here the polarization of Rayleigh
backscattered light in a monomode fiber is detected as a function of time. The birefringence
parameters of monomode fiber are sensitive to a number of measurands, such as strain, pressure,
and electric and magnetic fields. Consequently, the state of polarization (SOP) of the
backscattered light varies with distance z along the fiber. This variant of the OTDR technique has
been proposed for the distributed monitoring of electric (via the electro-optic Kerr effect) and
magnetic fields (via the magneto-optic Faraday effect).
The backscatter intensity in an OTDR system is proportional to the backscattered reflection
coefficient r(z). This provides a means of distributed sensing via measurand dependencies in r(z).
In general, this parameter is homogeneous along the fiber length and has negligible dependence on
external perturbations, such as bends lateral pressure and the like. The backscatter coefficient is,
however, temperature dependent: in solid core fibers this effect is extremely weak, as the
microscopic variations in refractive index in the core that give rise to the effect are essentially
frozen in place. However, in liquids the Rayleigh scattering coefficient and refractive index are
generally much more strongly dependent on temperature. Temperature sensing using the thermal
dependence in liquid-core fibers was demonstrated at an early stage of research in this field.
A number of specialty rare-earth-doped fibers have been researched for applications in optical
fiber amplifiers and fiber lasers, and distributed temperature sensors based on temperaturedependent absorption in such fibers have been demonstrated. In particular, neodymium- and
holmium-doped fibers have been shown to be suitable for use in distributed temperature-sensing
applications. In these fibers the strong absorption bands associated with the dopants broaden and
shift to slightly longer wavelengths with increasing temperature. OTDR measurements of the
spatial variation of the fiber loss at a wavelength close to the absorption band can thus be used to
perform the distributed temperature sensing.
In practice, increased loss in doped fibers can occur due to effects other than temperature, such
as bends and kinks, giving rise to the possibility of erroneous outputs. This necessitates the need
for some means of referencing to provide correction or compensation of such effects. This can be
accomplished very easily in this type of sensors using a second OTDR interrogating source of
wavelength shifted sufficiently far enough from the absorption band to monitor non-temperaturedependent loss mechanisms in the fiber.
Various other loss mechanisms can be utilized in distributed sensing, such as the temperature
dependence of bending loss in plastic-clad silica fibers (PCS), evanescent field radiative loss due
to external refractive index changes (due to, for instance, temperature variations in a fixed external
medium or liquid leakage) or continuous microbending loss in fiber. For example, quasicontinuous microbending loss can be introduced in a fiber by stringing it along a zigzag path
attached to a structure, or using a fiber sheathed with a spiral jacket to produce localized
microbending when lateral pressure is applied.

The temperature dependence of fluorescence can also provide a means for distributed
temperature sensing. To accomplish this, fibers dopants with short fluorescence lifetimes are
required to provide a good degree of spatial resolution, normally attainable using OTDR based
systems. Organic laser day dopant materials in polymer fibers have been proposed for distributed
sensing by fluorescence.

3. Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry (OTDR) - conventional approach

3.1 Basic principles of the method
The backscattering method was invented by M. Barnoskim and M. Jensen in 1976 [1], in time
when technology of the optical fiber manufacturing was at early stages. The precise and reliable
measurement of local losses on the fiber was very important for further improvement of quality of
fibers. In the paper cited above the authors describe a new method for the loss distribution along
the fiber. The basic idea of the proposed method consisted in launching a rather short and high
power optical impulse into the tested fiber and a consequent detection of back scattered optical
power as a response of the fiber to the test impulse. The detected signal provides the detail picture
about the local loss distribution or reflections along the fiber caused by any of the attenuation
mechanisms or some other nonhomogeneities on the fiber. An important feature of the method is
non-destructivity and the fact that the access to only input end of the fiber is needed.
The measurement of the time delay of the detected signal from the fiber end or from any
perturbation on the fiber allows to derive the information about the perturbation localization
provided that the index of refraction in the fiber core or group velocity of light propagation is
known. In any point on the fiber the magnitude of the backscattered optical power is proportional
to the local transmitted optical power. Due to the nonzero losses this power is gradually attenuated
along the fiber and consequently also the backscattered power is also attenuated. The
measurement of the backscattered power as a function of time or position on the fiber gives the
information about the local distribution of the attenuation coefficient along the fiber. In this way
one can evaluate the space distribution and magnitude of various non-homogeneities along the
fiber like optical connectors, splicings, micro- and macro-bend losses and others measurandperturbances. The comparison of the losses closely before and after point of interest makes
possible to evaluate insertion losses of the various optical components on the fiber link.

5. Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometry (OFDR)

5.1 OFDR with the frequency scanning (OFDR-FS)
5.1.1 Introduction
In OTDR techniques where the system is probed by the narrow pulses of optical radiation the
spatial resolution can be improved as the pulses are shortened and the measurement band-width is
broadened. However it results in the increase of noise level and consequently in the decrease of
dynamical range (well-known trade-off between dynamical range and space resolution). To solve
this problem other approaches to optical reflectometry in time domain were and are permanently
being search for. To this time we can speak about the correlation OTDR based on the use of
pseudorandom probe signal [2] or on the use of complementary Golay code probe signal [3], the
photon-counting OTDR [4] and the low correlation OTDR [5]. Each of these OTDR modifications
are characteristic by some advantages and drawbacks that determine the field of their utilization.
For instance the low-correlation OTDR, which is characteristic with very high sensitivity (under 180 dB) and space resolution (tens of m) is predominantly used for the characterization of
miniature integrated optical waveguides.
Another approach is the optical frequency-domain reflectometry with the frequency scanning
(OFDR-FS), called often also frequency-modulated continuous-wave reflectometry (FMCW) in
which the probe signal is a continuous frequency modulated optical wave [6]. In contrast to OTDR
the OFDR-FS systems, which use more energetic continuous wave probing, are characteristic by
dynamical range that does not depend on the space resolution. This significant feature gives the
OFDR-FS the potential to achieve high spatial resolution without the loss of dynamical range.
Combination of this technique with the coherent detection scheme gains the additional advantage the high sensitivity. Sensitivities down the - 100 dB and space resolution in millimeter range can
be achieved. Comparing the performance parameters of classical OTDR and the low correlation
OTDR one can state that OFDR-FS fulfils the gap between the two above mentioned extremes. It
is determined for characterization of optical lines of medium length and with higher space
resolution (LAN).
A crucial element in the OFDR-FS is the optical source, which strongly influences the
achievable spatial resolution and measurement range. High spatial resolution requires the highly
coherent source having a broad, phase-continuous and simultaneously linear tuning range.
However real sources depart from perfect coherence and produce the phase noise that limits the
system performance. First - it limits the distance over which the discrete reflections can be
measured and second - it decreases the dynamical range between the reflected signal of interest
and the level of phase noise. For a long time the lack of suitable sources was the main objection

for broader utilization of OFDR-FS in practice. Progress in technology of semiconductor laser

diodes and fiber lasers during a few recent years brought new promises for the use of this
technique. Special three electrode laser diodes made possible to achieve the space resolution 400
m and to measure the back scattered signals on fibers 400 m long [7]. The use of laser diodes
with external fiber resonators allows to enhance the coherence length and to increase the
measurement range to several hundred of meters [8]. OFDR-FS instrument based on the use of a
tunable fiber laser with very narrow line-width (10 kHz) tuned mechanically by piezo-electric
transducer makes possible to measure the reflectivity on the level - 110 dB with 80 dB dynamical
range. The narrow line width of the source allows long-range measurement, at 150 m, with a
spatial resolution of 16 cm [9].
In this section a detail theoretical analysis of the OFDR-FS for the recovery of distributed back
scattered light and discrete Fresnel reflections along the optical fiber is given. The main limitation
factors of the method such as the phase noise, the influence of polarization fluctuation, the
distortion by frequency modulation non-linearity and the problems of the artefacts in output signal
are discussed and the possible solutions are outlined.
5.1.2 Theoretical background of OFDR-FS
The basic idea of the OFDR-FS can be explained using the simplified block diagram of the
OFDR-FS reflectometer as illustrated in the Fig. 5.1.2.1.

Fig. 5.1.2.1. Simplified block diagram of the OFDR-FS based reflectometer, FC - fiber coupler,
FD - photodetector