Modulation instability-induced fading in phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

Martins, HF (Author) Other; Martin Lopez, S (Author) Other; Corredera, P (Author) Other; Salgado, P (Author) Other; Frazao, O (Author) FCUP; Gonzalez Herraez, M (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Optics Letters

Vol. 38

Pages: 872-874

ISSN: 0146-9592

Publisher: Optical Society of America

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 74 Citations

Scopus - 90 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-005-2GQ

DOI: 10.1364/ol.38.000872

Abstract (EN): Phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (phi OTDR) is a simple and effective tool allowing the distributed monitoring of vibrations along single-mode fibers. We show in this Letter that modulation instability (MI) can induce a position-dependent signal fading in long-range phi OTDR over conventional optical fibers. This fading leads to a complete masking of the interference signal recorded at certain positions and therefore to a sensitivity loss at these positions. We illustrate this effect both theoretically and experimentally. While this effect is detrimental in the context of distributed vibration analysis using phi OTDR, we also believe that the technique provides a clear and insightful way to evidence the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam recurrence associated with the MI process. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 3