Distributed vibration sensor with a lasing phase-sensitive OTDR

The authors experimentally demonstrate the operation of a lasing phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometer (Phi-OTDR) based on random feedback from a sensing fiber. Here, the full output of the laser provides the sensing signal, in contrast to the small backscattered signal measured in a conventional OTDR. In this proof-of-principle demonstration, the laser operates as a distributed vibration sensor with signal-to-noise ratio of 23-dB and 1.37-m spatial resolution. (c) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

The authors experimentally demonstrate the operation of a lasing phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometer (Phi-OTDR) based on random feedback from a sensing fiber. In contrast to the conventional OTDR that measures small backscattered signals, the full output of the laser is used as the sensing signal in this system. The laser operates as a distributed vibration sensor with a high signal-to-noise ratio of 23 dB and a spatial resolution of 1.37 m in this proof-of-principle demonstration.