The field of the invention is that of optical fiber sensors. More precisely, it relates to sensors able to detect a disturbance in proximity to the fiber, making it possible to locate this disturbance along the fiber in a noisy environment.
Optical fiber sensors offer considerable advantages in respect of acoustic detection and temperature measurement. They allow long-distance interrogation (with or without offset) and can attain very great sensitivities (dispersed sensors) as well as a high spatial resolution (distributed sensors).
Underwater acoustic detection exhibits a major strategic interest for military applications (coastal surveillance, detection/identification of submarines and surface vessels) and civil applications (underwater biology, monitoring of offshore structures, seismic studies).
Dispersed optical fiber sensor arrays are particularly suitable for these requirements. They are based on one or more optical fibers comprising several sensitive zones a few centimeters in length and spaced apart, which constitute a spatial array of sensors. These sensors can be multiplexed in wavelength and/or in time. The most sensitive are based on active (DFB lasers) or passive Bragg gratings, coupled to a mechanical transducer making it possible to transform the deformation due to the pressure wave into an amplified and controlled longitudinal elongation of the optical fiber.
These make it possible to attain sensitivities of below a picostrain i.e. capable of detecting relative variations of the fiber length of ΔL/L of the order of 10−12.
In recent years, the monitoring of works (buildings, bridges, oil pipelines and gas pipelines, etc.) has bred new requirements, in particular that of very long distance interrogation (>50 km) with spatial resolutions of a few meters to a few centimeters. To this end, distributed optical fiber sensors offer big advantages. They refer to the set of optical fiber sensors for which the sensitive part is composed of the entire single-mode or multimode optical fiber. A spatial array of “virtual sensors” along the fiber can be reconstructed by processing the optical signal. The spacing of this array is determined by the characteristics of the signal processing and therefore presents the advantage of being able to be tailored electronically. The length of the stretch of fiber over which the measurement is averaged for each “virtual” sensor depends on the spatial resolution associated with the optical processing of the signal which carries the disturbance induced by the quantity to be measured. Distributed sensors are based on the processes of elastic and inelastic scattering in optical fibers. The most widespread systems use the principle of optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR). The first systems consisted in analyzing the Rayleigh backscattering of a wide-band optical source as described in the article by Farries, M. C.; Fermann, M. E.; Poole, S. B.; Townsend, J. E. “Distributed Temperature Sensor Using Holmium 3+ Doped Fiber”. In Proceedings of OFC, Reno, Nev., USA, 19 Jan. 1987.
Other approaches based on the same principle have emerged in recent years. Among them may be noted the principle of phase-sensitive optical reflectometry (phase-OTDR) as described in the article by Qin, Z.; Chen L.; Bao, X. “Wavelet denoising method for improving detection performance of distributed vibration sensor”. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 2012, 24, 542-544, as well as a heterodyne pulsed scheme described in the article by M. D. Mermelstein, A. Tveten, C. K. Kirkendall, and A. Dandridge, “Double-Pulse Heterodyne Rayleigh Backscattering in an Acoustically Driven Single-Mode Optical Fiber,” NRL-FR-9932, 1999.
Moreover, architectures using the principle of Brillouin scattering have been much studied. In this case, the shift of the Brillouin frequency, sensitive to the longitudinal elongation of the optical fiber (0.056 MHz/μ-strain) as well as to temperature (1.26 MHz/° C.), is what is measured. The simplest configuration uses the principle of spontaneous Brillouin scattering (B-OTDR) as described in the article by Horiguchi T, Shimizu K, Kurashima T, Tateda M, Koyamada Y., “Development of a distributed sensing Technique using Brillouin scattering” Journal of Lightwave Technology, 1995, 13(7): 1296-1302. It consists in injecting a pump pulse into an optical fiber. Frequency shift, measured with the aid of heterodyne detection, of the backscattered Stokes wave allows conversion into an elongation or temperature, and measurement of the flight time allows location.
Other approaches use the principle of stimulated Brillouin scattering (B-OTDA), as described in the articles by Horiguchi T, Kurashima T, Tateda M., “A technique to measure distributed strain in optical fibers” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 1990, 2(5): 352-354, or by Nikles M, Thevenaz L, Robert P A. “Simple distributed fiber sensor based on Brillouin gain spectrum analysis”. Optics Letters, 1996, 21 (10): 758-760. They then require the use of two counter-propagating optical waves, pump and probe. In certain phase-tuning conditions, their interaction generates an acoustic grating which diffracts the photons of the pump wave toward the probe wave.
All of these temporal approaches can be transposed to the frequency domain. In this case, one speaks of optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR). Latterly, an original scheme has been proposed by Hotate et. al. consisting in modulating the two signals, pump and probe, so as to generate amplification windows whose position and width are controllable via the modulation parameters, as described in the article by Hotate, K.; Hasegawa, T. “Measurement of Brillouin gain spectrum distribution along an optical fiber with a high spatial resolution using a correlation-based technique-Proposal, experiment and simulation,” IEICE Trans. Electron. 2000, E83-C, 405-411.
Davies et al. propose an architecture of the OTDR type based on the use of a multimode optical fiber associated with a spatial filter making it possible to select the fundamental mode LP01 of the optical fiber as described in the patent “Distributed vibration sensing system using multimode fiber,” U.S. Pat. No. 7,668,411 B2 (2010), but without exploiting the phase information contained in the higher order modes.
In parallel, dynamic holography has been particularly studied in photo-refractive crystals and described in particular in the article by Kamshilin, A. A., Romashko, R. V. and Kulchin, Y. N., “Adaptive interferometry with photorefractive crystal,” J. Appl. Phys. 105, 031101 (2009). An experimental demonstration of phase shift measurement using a multimode optical fiber and a cadmium telluride (CdTe) crystal has been proposed in the article by Salvatore Di Girolamo, Alexei A. Kamshilin, Roman V. Romashko, Yuriy N. Kulchin, and Jean C. Launay, “Sensing of multimode-fiber strain by a dynamic photorefractive hologram,” Opt. Lett. 32, 1821-1823 (2007), however, without effective filtering of slow disturbances since no use is made of a liquid-crystal light valve as non-linear medium which can guarantee re-phasing and insensitivity to slow disturbances of the environment with luminous intensities of three orders of magnitude lower.
Generally, a liquid-crystal light valve consists of a fine nematic liquid crystal layer contained between a photoconductor substrate and a glass window, on which two transparent electrodes are deposited. Liquid crystals are anisotropic organic molecules characterized by their large birefringence. In their nematic phase, they are on average oriented along a preferential direction. Under the action of an electric field (applied between the two electrodes), the molecules reorient themselves and induce a change in the extraordinary optical index. The modification of the material's conductivity (proportional to the optical intensity) induces a voltage drop at the interface between the photoconductor and the liquid crystal, leading to the reorientation of its constituent molecules. This results in a modification of the birefringence and consequently an optical phase shift. The light valve can therefore be considered to be an optical Kerr effect medium. This component has been studied mainly for the purposes of optical limiter for high-power lasers and described in particular in the article by Salvatore Di Girolamo, Alexei A. Kamshilin, Roman V. Romashko, Yuriy N. Kulchin, and Jean C. Launay, “Sensing of multimode-fiber strain by a dynamic photorefractive hologram,” Opt. Lett. 32, 1821-1823 (2007).
Adaptive holography in a liquid-crystal light valve involves the principle of two-wave mixing. This process dispenses with the phase piston (uniform phase shift of the wavefront, term commonly used) of the interferometer. Consequently, detection is linear without needing to add a feedback loop. A first experimental demonstration, based on this principle, has made it possible to demonstrate an interferometer whose output intensity is very sensitive to the phase difference between the arms, as described in the article by Bortolozzo, U., Residori, S. and Huignard, J. P., “Picometer detection by adaptive holographic interferometry in a liquid-crystal light valve,” Opt. Lett. 34, 2006-2008 (2009).
This same principle has allowed the production of an ultra-sensitive accelerometer based on the Sagnac effect and described in the article by Bortolozzo, U., Rubin, J., Residori, S. and Huignard, J. P., “Sagnac interferometer with adaptive nonlinear detection,” Opt. Lett. 36, 520 (2011).
In this context, the subject of the present invention is a distributed sensor integrating an optical fiber, preferably multimode, and an adaptive interferometer comprising a liquid-crystal valve as recombination medium, allowing the detection of low dynamic stresses in a noisy environment, whereas, currently, slow disturbances of the environment impose stresses on the sensor architectures used, and optical fiber-based distributed detection is generally incompatible with high sensitivity.
The sensor of the present invention uses an optical fiber as sensitive part associated with detection by adaptive holography in a light valve (making it possible to filter the low frequencies, corresponding to the noise due to the environment) and integrating a distributed-sensor-compatible interrogation architecture.
More precisely, the subject of the present invention is a distributed optical fiber sensor of dynamic stress state, said sensor comprising:
According to variants of the invention, the optical assembly comprising at least one laser emitting at a wavelength λ, comprises first means which may be a first acousto-optical modulator, for generating optical pulses.
According to variants of the invention, the sensor comprises at least:
According to variants of the invention, the sensor furthermore comprises second means which may be a second acousto-optical modulator, situated at the output of the circulator and at the input of the coupler making it possible to select gates of duration 2ΔL/c with c the speed of light in vacuo and ΔL/2 the length of a sensitive zone defined between a position Ai and a position Bi at the level of said fiber and referenced from said first end, so as to allow only backscattered waves originating from a sensitive zone of said fiber at one and the same time to interfere;
According to variants of the invention, the sensor furthermore comprises:
The signal acquired on the photodiode is converted into an electrical signal. A sampling of this signal is performed making it possible to analyze the information included in a sample (time window) and corresponding to the phase signal experienced by the fiber at the corresponding distance z, referenced with respect to an end of the fiber.
According to variants of the invention, the sensor furthermore comprises:
According to variants of the invention, the writing laser assembly comprises:
According to variants of the invention, said optical system is configured such that said reference beam Fr or said reference pulses Ipri interferes or interfere at the input of said liquid-crystal light valve without it or them having been injected into said optical fiber with said signal optical pulses IpsiS, arising from said optical pulses injected then propagated in said fiber.
According to variants of the invention, said optical system is configured such that said reference beam Fr or said reference pulses Ipri interferes or interfere at the input of said liquid-crystal light valve, it or they having been injected into said optical fiber with said signal optical pulses IpsiS, arising from said optical pulses injected then propagated in said fiber.
According to variants of the invention, the second end of the fiber comprises a reflecting treatment.
According to variants of the invention, said fiber is single-mode.
According to variants of the invention, said fiber is multimode.
According to variants of the invention, the emission wavelength of the optical assembly is equal to 1.5 μm.
The invention will be better understood and other advantages will become apparent on reading the nonlimiting description which follows and by virtue of the appended figures among which:
The distributed optical fiber (fiber which is uniform over its entire length) sensor of the present invention makes it possible to exploit the principle of phase demodulation with a distributed measurement and exhibits the following main advantages by reason of the adaptive interferometer that it integrates and which are in particular:
The sensor of the present invention comprises at least one coherent optical source, and means for generating two optical waves: a reference wave ER at the frequency ωR and a signal wave Es at the frequency ωs, which is injected into the optical fiber and analyzed at the fiber output after propagation and retro-propagation in said fiber.
Each mode of the signal wave experiences the phase disturbances integrated along the optical fiber. The reference wave and the signal wave are recombined on a liquid-crystal light valve thus forming an intensity array as illustrated in
The light valve behaving as an optical Kerr effect medium, the intensity array is transferred to a phase hologram, the duration of recording being the response time of the liquid crystal. Consequently, the hologram accommodates all phase disturbances that are slow relative to its recording time, being re-inscribed continuously as a function of the slow modifications of the interference pattern. The liquid crystals have a response time of the order of a some hundred milliseconds for thicknesses of the order of some ten micrometers. Having regard to these characteristic dimensions, the diffraction takes place in a Raman-Nath regime. It follows from this that the reference and signal waves will diffract on the phase hologram, inducing several diffracted orders E1, E2, E−1.
To illustrate this phenomenon, the Applicants have considered the order diffracted in the direction of the reference wave. The resulting wave after the light valve consists of the transmitted part of the reference wave and of the diffracted part of the signal wave. These two waves have the same wavefront for the phase variations whose characteristic time is greater than the response time of the liquid crystals. The beating of these two optical signals on a photodiode (which converts the phase modulations into intensity modulation) therefore allows the demodulation of the phase disturbance while circumventing the slow disturbances. Moreover, the multimode character makes it possible to effect an average over the whole set of propagation modes and to increase, ultimately, the signal-to-noise ratio. The analytical calculation presented hereinbelow makes it possible to demonstrate this principle.
The Applicants have undertaken the analytical calculation of the gain in sensitivity and have evaluated the power diffracted in the direction of the reference.
To do this, they have studied the phenomenon of self-diffraction in a liquid-crystal light valve (LCLV) between a reference wave ER and a wave arising from a multimode optical fiber ES. The signal wave ES decomposes into the sum of the modes guided by the optical fiber. These are all phase-modulated and the Applicants have more particularly concerned themselves with the phase-amplitude conversion. The results presented hereinafter make the assumption that the modes are mutually orthogonal and that they are all polarized along the director axis of the liquid crystals.
The reference wave may be written:
With c.c: complex conjugate corresponding to the same term as the first term in the sum by replacing j by −j
The signal wave may be written:
Where M is the number of mode, m is the index of the mode considered, φm is a relative phase shift between the modes and Δφm is the amplitude of the phase modulation at the frequency Ω.
Under steady conditions, the refractive index in the valve is sensitive only to slow variations relative to its response time τ. The latter takes the form:
n=n
0
+n
2
I
LF (1.3)
where ILF is the low-frequency contribution of the intensity array between ER and ES:
I
LF
=|E
R
+E
S|LF2 (1.4)
Consequently, it is necessary to determine the LF contribution of the signal wave. The Jacobi-Anger identity is accordingly used. The expression for the optical field for each mode m may be written:
where the functions Jk(x) are the Bessel functions of the 1st kind of order k.
In conclusion, by feeding equation (3.5) into equation (3.4), it is possible to show that the low-frequency intensity of the intensity array becomes:
Having regard to the characteristic dimensions of the LCLV liquid-crystal valve, the diffraction operates in the Raman-Nath regime. The optical field at output may then be written as the product of the incident optical field with the transmission coefficient of the valve:
Eout=TEin=ejnk
with:
E
in
=E
S
+E
R (1.8)
By putting:
The transmission coefficient can then be cast into the form:
By using the Jacobi-Anger identity, it is possible to express the field diffracted in the direction of the reference wave in the form:
In order to establish a first trend in the behavior of such a device, it is possible to make the reasonable assumption that |Xm|<<1.
This implies that
Equation (1.11) then reduces to:
The intensity detected in the direction of the reference wave is thus equal to:
Moreover, sin[Δφm sin(Ωt)]≈2J1(Δφm) sin(Ωt) i.e.:
For weak phase modulations, that is to say Δφm<<1, the above expression can be reduced to:
If moreover, it is considered that each mode transports the same intensity I0, equation (1.15) becomes:
Consequently, the contribution of each mode can be measured in a coherent manner. The power of the signal detected through the dynamic hologram is proportional to Σm=1MΔφm.
The Applicants have also estimated the detection sensitivity:
In the case of a conventional quadrature interferometer, the phase modulation is converted linearly into optical power modulation in the form:
P
SMF(Δφ)=αΔφ (1.17)
The associated variance then takes the form:
σSMF(Δφ)=ασΔφ (1.18)
In the case of an adaptive interferometer with a multimode fiber, the modulated power may be written in accordance with (1.16):
The factor 1/M signifies that the intensity is divided spatially over the set of modes.
Consequently, the variance of the signal detected with a fiber having M modes may be written:
It is possible to conclude that the variance of the signal detected with a multimode fiber with respect to that obtained with a single-mode fiber is reduced by a factor √{square root over (M)}. Consequently, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for a multimode fiber increases with √{square root over (M)}.
The SNR ratio can be subsequently increased by differential detection, for example with two balanced photodiodes, on the diffracted waves E1 and E0 (illustrated in
According to this first exemplary configuration, the distributed optical fiber sensor comprises a laser source SL1, an acousto-optical modulator MAO1 generating optical pulses Ipi emitted every tR and of pulse duration tp, and an optical fiber FO of length L. A series of luminous pulses Ipi of duration tp are thus injected into said optical fiber via a first end Ex1, propagate along said optical fiber, are reflected at the level of the second end Ex2, and then backscattered along said fiber, they correspond to the output optical pulses Ipsi which are utilized and carry information, as is illustrated in
Thus, a pulse introduced into the optical fiber FO of length L, via a circulator C gives rise to a back-scattered wave for the entire duration of the return journey of the pulse in the fiber, i.e. for a duration of 2×L/c.
A second acousto-optical modulator MAO2 is provided at the circulator C output, as well as a coupler CPL so as to divide the output pulses on two pathways. Means Dm making it possible to introduce a delay of length ΔL corresponding to the return journey time of the light in the sensitive zone of length ΔL/2 are inserted on one of the two pathways. This delay makes it possible to produce on the LCLV valve an interference between a wave and itself shifted in time.
This temporal shift corresponds to a distance shift of length ΔL/2 in the sensor. The wave which passes down the delayed pathway originates from the position Ai in the fiber, the wave which passes down the undelayed pathway originates from the position Bi in the fiber, which is situated ΔL/2 further on in the sensor.
The interference of the backscatterings originating from the positions Ai and from Bi gives the phase difference between the backscattering coming from Ai and the backscattering coming from Bi. The phase involved is indeed that experienced by the wave arising from the position Bi over the length ΔL/2. The bigger the sensitive zone length, the more decorrelated the interference patterns corresponding to the N sensitive zones in the sensor.
The superposition of the N interference patterns does not make it possible to inscribe a grating in the LCLV. Indeed, the relative phase of these interference patterns being random, their superposition decreases the contrast and scrambles the fringes. This is why an acousto-optical modulator MAO2 is inserted before the separation of the backscattering into two pathways, ensured by a coupler CPL. It makes it possible to open a gate of duration 2×ΔL so as to allow only the waves originating from one sensitive zone at a time to interfere.
In this case, one of the two pathways serves as reference with reference output optical pulses Ipri and the other pathway serves as signal pathway carrying signal optical pulses IpsiS, all arising from the output optical pulses Ipsi, the optical waves of the two pathways interfering at the level of the LCLV light valve.
This architecture makes it possible to locate along the fiber the phase disturbance induced by the physical quantity to be measured with a spatial resolution ΔL/2. It is measured by frequency analysis of the electrical signal delivered by the photodiode PD.
The maximum rate of interrogation of two different sensitive zones of the sensor is limited by the response time “off” of the liquid crystals: i.e. toff, the return time of the liquid crystals in the light valve, thereby implying that the rate of two successive pulses, which is defined by the parameter tR, must be greater than the parameter toff.
One ought to wait for the liquid crystals involved in inscribing the interference pattern of the first sensitive zone to be available again.
The second exemplary distributed fiber sensor of the invention comprises an architecture the aim of which is to allow the reading of the disturbance on all the sensitive zones of the sensor in a short time. The issue here is to be able to reconstruct a spatial array of virtual sensors (see definition hereinabove) so as to be able to construct for example an acoustic antenna with “electronically” reconfigurable spacing, this presenting a decisive advantage with respect to the solutions with dispersed sensors.
Accordingly it is necessary for a “mean” grating, called a “static grating”, to be inscribed in the LCLV. This grating is obtained by interference of the reflection of an input pulse Ipi with itself delayed by ΔL on the fiber extremity (fiber end) connector. The phase is therefore accumulated along the entire fiber. The slow phase variations along the entire fiber will modify the interference pattern making it possible to inscribe this mean grating. It is then possible to use this mean grating as diffraction grating for another light wave. This third-party wave is the backscattering of the pulse in the fiber.
A luminous pulse of duration tp is therefore injected into the fiber and is back-scattered in the latter. It is also reflected at the end of the fiber. It is obtained for example by a laser source SL1 followed by an acousto-optical modulator MAO1. This pulse gives rise to a back-scattered wave for the entire duration of the return journey of the pulse in the fiber, i.e. for 2×L/c. The back-scattered and reflected signal is separated into two pathways, via a circulator C and by virtue of a coupler CPL.
As in the first exemplary sensor, a delay of length ΔL corresponding to the return journey time of the light in the sensitive zone of length ΔL/2 is inserted into one of the two pathways by means Dm. This delay makes it possible to produce on the LCLV an interference between a wave and itself shifted in time. This temporal shift corresponds to a distance shift of length ΔL/2 in the sensor. This temporal shift fixes the minimum duration of the input pulse tp>ΔL/c. This configuration is illustrated in
Every tr, a new pulse is dispatched so that the mean grating does not wane with tr>2×L/c and tr<toff where toff is the return time for the liquid crystals to regain their initial state.
The maximum length of the sensor is therefore related to toff by:
L
max
<c×t
off/2.
A photodiode PD is placed on a diffraction order. The diffraction of the back-scattered wave on the mean grating is detected on the photodiode for the entire duration of the backscattering. So as not to saturate the detector, an acousto-optical modulator MAO2 is placed before the photodiode and makes it possible to cutoff the waves reflected by the ends of the fiber corresponding to the input and output connectors of the fiber. In contradistinction to the aforementioned first exemplary distributed fiber sensor, the electrical signal delivered by the photodiode contains the information regarding phase shift over the entire length of the sensitive fiber with a resolution ΔL/2 at a given instant.
It is the pulse repetition frequency analyzed by a processing unit UN which allows the frequency analysis of the signal with as limit condition on the sampling fac<frep/2, fac being the highest disturbance signal frequency that it is desired to detect in accordance with the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem which indicates that when sampling at the frequency Fe, only the frequencies below Fe/2 can be transmitted without information loss.
Third exemplary embodiment of distributed optical fiber sensor making it possible to locate a disturbance based on a Brillouin dynamic grating:
This exemplary embodiment comprises a distributed architecture based on a dynamic Brillouin grating as movable reflector and an optical interrogation wave comprising a series of optical pulses.
The Brillouin grating, generated by the interaction between two optical pulses, makes it possible to define a sensitive optical fiber portion. In this case, one is not concerned with the frequency aspect of the stimulated Brillouin interaction but solely with the reflection coefficient of the dynamic grating. A probe wave then makes it possible to probe the optical fiber.
The proposed architecture is shown diagrammatically in
The Stokes wave is shifted toward the low frequencies of ωB, the Brillouin frequency, corresponding to the Doppler effect: reflection of the pump on a movable grating. This grating, equivalent to a Bragg grating (due to the electrostriction effect between the pump wave and the Stokes wave in silica), propagates in the same direction as the pump at the speed of sound cac in the fiber ωB=2ncac/λ.
The duration of the pulses determines the length of the grating. The grating is successively inscribed at various positions Zr in the fiber.
Its position is controlled (that is to say the zone in the fiber where the reflection of the pulse at ωs crosses the pulse at ωp) by the time interval Δt between the two pulses. In practice, it is proposed to use a reflecting treatment M at the end of the fiber so as to obtain the reflection of the wave at ωs making it possible to stimulate the Brillouin scattering.
Thus, on the first pathway, the first acousto-optical modulator MOA3 is used to obtain the pump pulses. On the second pathway, the frequency of the laser is shifted by a value corresponding to wB(ωs=ωp−ωs) i.e. about 10 GHz in the optical fibers, and then another acousto-optical modulator MAO4 is used to obtain the Stokes pulses.
A third “probe” wave arising from the optical assembly comprising the laser SL1 is injected into the fiber at a frequency ωs and makes a return journey between the input of the fiber and the Brillouin grating RBi. It accumulates a phase shift on this return journey.
This phase shift is the signal of interest. A hologram is caused on the LCLV valve between the return from the probe and a reference originating from the same laser. An optical assembly is used comprising a laser SL1 which emits a laser beam, divided so as to generate a laser beam Fr, the other part of said beam being introduced into an acousto-optical modulator to generate a series of pulses Ipi at the optical frequency ωs so as to carry out the reading step. Typically, the lifetime of the grating thus inscribed is defined by the lifetime of the acoustic phonons in the material of the optical fiber which may be in a conventional manner, silica, i.e. about 10 ns. It is therefore necessary to read the phase in the 10 ns following writing. The pulses Ipi introduced into the optical fiber generate, at fiber output, pulses IpsiS after reflection at the level of the Brillouin grating RBi, interfering with the reference beam on the LCLV light valve.
At each writing-reading cycle, the spectrum obtained at cycle N is subtracted from the spectrum obtained at cycle N+1 so as to have access to the information which occurs in the fiber portion corresponding to the interrogation (writing/reading) by the pulses of cycle N.
The period of the writing-reading process is: T=2L/c=1/frep
One obtains the spectrum Si (t, L−Zr) of the phase disturbance signal at ti=i*T, for the Brillouin reflector RBi at the position L−Zri. More precisely, Si(t, L−Zr) is the spectrum of the acoustic signal which modulates the phase on a return journey between the input of the fiber and the Brillouin reflector RBi inscribed, therefore over the length 2×L−Zri.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1500563 | Mar 2015 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2016/055866 | 3/17/2016 | WO | 00 |