FIBEROPTIC SENSOR TECHNOLOGY HANDBOOK
FIBEROPTIC SENSOR TECHNOLOGY HANDBOOK
FIBEROPTIC SENSOR TECHNOLOGY HANDBOOK
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A simplified design of the cladding light<br />
monitor is indicated in Fig. 5.33. The pick-up fiber<br />
STRIPPER<br />
I o-<br />
SOURCE FIBER<br />
DEFORMER<br />
transducer outputs could also be accomplished prior to<br />
photodetection. The optical outputs may be combined<br />
with appropriate time delays determined by the transducer<br />
spacings and coupler fiber lengths. On the other<br />
hand, by employing a pulse modulated optical source, it<br />
is possible to employ a single return bus fiber into<br />
which the optical output pulses from the various transducers<br />
could be fed. Time domain multiplexing schemes<br />
could then be used to identify and process the signal<br />
from the individual sensors. These and other various<br />
types of fiberoptic sensor arrays and the telemetering<br />
of their outputs are discussed in detail in Chapter 6.<br />
Fig. 5.33<br />
FIBER-FIBER<br />
COUPLER<br />
DETECTOR FIBER<br />
kAI<br />
A darkfield microbend intensity-type fiberoptic<br />
sensor with a fiber-fiber coupler<br />
following the deformer (microbender) developed<br />
by the Catholic University.<br />
is directly coupled to the outer surface of the cladding<br />
of the through-put fiber. Recent studies of this<br />
technique have ha~ p~omising results.<br />
darkfield<br />
The design and operation of a linear array of<br />
microbend sensors is shown in Fig. 5.34. Each<br />
This brief description of various intensity<br />
type sensors is not exhaustive. The discussion is aimed<br />
at introducing some basic concepts regarding their overall<br />
design and behavior. Many other fiberoptic intensity<br />
transducers are currently under investigation such<br />
as sensors employing fibers with temperature sensitive<br />
absorptive dopants, and several displacement and pressure<br />
transducers employing strain-induced birefringence<br />
as an intensity transduction mechanism. All of these<br />
have the advantage of being much simpler in design and<br />
operation, but they are less sensitive than interferometric<br />
fiberoptic sensors. Further improvements, including<br />
increases in sensitivity, are expected for the<br />
intensity-type fiberoptic sensors.<br />
5.2.6<br />
1.<br />
2.<br />
3.<br />
s.<br />
R.<br />
w.<br />
References<br />
Sheem and J. Cole, Opt. Lett. ~, 322 (1979).<br />
Phillips, Opt. Lett. ~, 318 (1980).<br />
Spillman, Appl. Opt. ~, 465 (1981).<br />
STR!-R<br />
DEFORMER<br />
SOURCE FIBER<br />
STRIPPER<br />
,~fi \.- .<br />
----<br />
\<br />
---<br />
-<br />
DEFORMER<br />
K /’<br />
FIBER-FIBER<br />
COUPLERS<br />
%T<br />
)<br />
Fig. 5.34<br />
A series of deformers used to control the<br />
intensity of light tapped from an optical<br />
fiber bus.<br />
sensor is an assembly consisting of a cladding-mode<br />
stripper, a microbend deformer (transducer), and a fiber-to-fiber<br />
coupler. Many of these assemblies may be<br />
mounted in series on a single optical fiber bus. The<br />
cladding-mode stripper removes any residual light in<br />
the cladding just prior to the microbend deformer. The<br />
deformer causes light from the core to enter the cladding<br />
according to the baseband (information-bearing<br />
force, pressure, or sound) signal. Following the deformer,<br />
the coupler removes the light (baseband signal)<br />
from the claddlng and dispatches it to a photodetector.<br />
A number of different multiplexing schemes<br />
could be used in the detection portion of the array.<br />
The moat direct, would be to feed each cladding light<br />
pick-up fiber to a separate photodetector. Temporal<br />
and spatial averaging of a number of closely spaced<br />
5-12<br />
4.<br />
5.<br />
6.<br />
5.3<br />
J.<br />
J.<br />
J.<br />
N.<br />
R.<br />
Fields, C. Asawa, O. Ramer, and M. Barnoski,<br />
Acoust. SOC. Am. Z, 816 (1980).<br />
Fields and J. Cole, Appl. Opt. ~, 3265 (1980).<br />
Lagakos, T. Litovitz, P. Macedo, R. Mohr, and<br />
Meister, Appl. Opt. ~, 167 (1981).<br />
<strong>FIBEROPTIC</strong> LINRAR ACCELEROMETERS<br />
The operation of interferometric fiberoptic<br />
sensors described in Section 5.1 depends primarily on<br />
phase changes associated with force-field-induced mechanical<br />
strains. Similarly the two-fiber optical accelerometer<br />
described in this section makes use of the<br />
change in fiber length due to a force resulting from<br />
the acceleration of a mass suspended between two fibers.<br />
The effect is to increase the tensile stress in the fiber<br />
in one arm of an interferometer and decrease the<br />
tensile stresa in the fiber in the other arm. The device<br />
for accomplishing this is shown in Fig. 5.35. A<br />
section of the fiber in one arm of the interferometer<br />
is attached both to the upper end of the case and to<br />
the mass. A similar section of fiber in the other arm<br />
of the interferometer is attached to the mass and to<br />
the lower end of the case. Thus, the mass, m, is suspended<br />
between the two fiber sections which effectively<br />
serve as springs. If the accelerometer case is given<br />
an acceleration, a, vertically upward, the upper fiber<br />
elongates by AL and the lower fiber shortens by the<br />
same amount in providing the force F required to accelerate<br />
the mass. This may be written as<br />
F=2AAT=ma (5.19)