[INVITED] State of the art of Brillouin fiber-optic distributed sensing

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2015.09.013Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Brillouin-based fiber-optic distributed sensing is a leading technique for the monitoring of strain, temperature and related measurands

  • Recent research has pushed its performance to new records.

  • Sensing range has been extended to hundreds of kilometers.

  • Spatial resolution is down to a centimeter.

  • It can now monitor fast dynamic events.

Abstract

Fiber-optic distributed sensing, employing the Brillouin effect, is already a commercially available measurement technique for the accurate estimation of the static strain/temperature fields along tens of kilometers with a spatial resolution of the order of a meter. Furthermore, relentless research efforts are paving the way to even much wider usability of the technique through recently achieved enhanced performance in each of its critical dimensions: measurement range has been extended to hundreds of kilometers; spatial resolution is of the order of a centimeter or less, signal to noise ratio has been significantly improved; fast dynamic events can be captured at kHz’s sampling rates; and a much better understanding of the underlying physics has been obtained, along with the formulation of figures of merit, and the preparation and early adoption of appropriate standards and guidelines. This paper describes the basics, as well as the state of the art, of the leading Brillouin interrogation methods, with emphasis on the significant progress made in the last 3 years. It also includes a short introduction to coding, which has proven instrumental in many of the recently obtained performance records.

Section snippets

General Introduction

Following the immense impact they had on telecommunications, optical fibers have finally established their advantageous value also in the field of sensing. Almost all physical quantities of interest, such as strain, temperature, magnetic field, electric field, acoustic fields, rotation, humidity and many more (to be called from now on: measurands), can be sensed by their direct or indirect effect on the propagation of light in the fiber [1], [2]. For example: When a section of a fiber is

Brillouin Optical Frequency Domain Analysis (BOFDA)

The time domain probing at a given optical frequency using a temporal pulse can be replaced by interrogating the fiber with an RF modulated CW wave of the same optical frequency, while scanning the RF modulation frequency over a range commensurate with the RF spectral contents of the temporal pulse. Using a network analyzer, a complex transfer function is obtained, from which, Fourier analysis can produce the same trace as obtained by the temporal pulse. While the CW nature of the measurement

Brillouin Optical Correlation Domain Analysis (BOCDA) and Reflectometry (BOCDR)

Localization in SBS-based distributed sensing is achieved by spatially selective excitation of the acoustic field, a mission accomplished in BOTDA by the finite extent of the propagating pulsed pump. Too short pump pulses, however, successfully define the resolution cell but fail to allow the acoustic field to develop to its full strength and narrow (∼30 MHz) spectral characteristics, resulting in a weaker and spectrally wider SBS interaction. It turns out that localization of the Brillouin

Specialty fibers and miscellaneous topics

It is of importance to mention that up to now Brillouin scattering has been investigated not only in silica-based optical fibers. Researchers have been constantly looking for fibers with higher Brillouin efficiencies. Some of these specialty fibers include: Tellurite glass fibers [[176], [177]], As2Se3 Chalcogenide fibers [[178], [179]], and Bismuthoxide fibers [[180], [181]], The Brillouin effect and its application to sensing have also been investigated in Photonic Crystal fibers (PCF) [e.g.

Summary

In this paper we have attempted to review the state of the art in Brillouin-based fiber-optic distributed sensing. The various interrogation techniques have been described and recent achievements have been discussed (and, regrettably not all recent work could be referenced). Besides many small improvements, the major progress of the last few years has been in extending the measurement range, in improving the spatial resolution, in making Brillouin distributed sensing a dynamic technique, and

Note added in proof

The proofs of this review arrived at the end of the 24th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors [191], where many papers were devoted to Brillouin-based fiber-based distributed sensing. Many performance characteristics of current implementations have been improved (e.g., the simultaneous achievement of both high spatial resolution and long sensing range; the removal of non-local effects and more), novel and/or simpler setups have been demonstrated for the measurement of both the

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Israeli Science Foundation (Grant No. 1380/12)

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