Optical seminar | 29 June 2022

Optical fibers are widely used in telecommunication industry. Also, fiber based lasers are very fast growing area of technological and scientific instruments. At the same time, less known but nevertheless very important application of optical fibers are sensors. There are many different types of sensors, starting from simple single-point sensors and up to sophisticated distributed sensing systems with sensing length of several tens of kilometers for Structural Health Monitoring of large constructions like bridges, pipelines, dams, etc. Large multiplexed arrays of sensors and distributed sensors can serve like a nervous system in smart structures: can detect a problem and indicate its position with very high accuracy. Many of them make a use of resonant responses of nano- and micro-structures formed inside the fiber as well as linear and no-linear scattering in optical fibers. Along with technical performance, a total cost of the sensing system is a key parameter for budget-sensitive applications.
In this lecture we will talk about different physical mechanisms suitable for fast direct writing of structures into the standard telecom fibers and will discuss a novel simple method for interrogation of multipoint and distributed sensors using a simple CW diode laser. Here, I’ll show some most recent results obtained in our group at Optics Department of the Mexican Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE), will briefly introduce our department and show some opportunities for postgraduate students and postdocs to obtain a financial support from Mexican government.

Main paper/arXiv, related to the seminar, and other references

S.A. Kukushkin, M.G. Shlyagin, P.L. Swart , A.A. Chtcherbakov, A.V.Osipov, “Type IIA photosensitivity and formation of pores in optical fibers under intense UV irradiation,”- Journal of Applied Physics vol.102, n.5, p.053502-1 – 053502-13 (2007)
A. Arias, M. G. Shlyagin, S. V. Miridonov, and R. M. Manuel, “Phase-sensitive correlation optical time-domain reflectometer using quantum phase noise of laser light,” Opt. Express 23, 30347 (2015).
J. H. López, Ó. Esteban, M. G. Shlyagin, and R. M. Manuel, “Multipoint refractometer based on combined correlation and frequency multiplexing,” Photon.Technol. Letters 29, 1479 (2017).
J. H. López, M. G. Shlyagin, and R. M. Manuel, Correlation-based multiplexing of spectral channels and fiber-optic sensors using unmodulated continuous-wave distributed feedback diode lasers, Opt. Lett. 47, 1210 (2022)