A Coherent Optical Frequency-Domain Reflectometer Based on a Self-Sweeping Fiber Laser for Sensing Applications

The first results are presented that demonstrate the applicability of a coherent optical frequency-domain reflectometer based on a self-sweeping fiber laser for sensing. An array of various fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) was used as the sensing line. It is shown that FBGs with a reflection spectrum that lies outside the scan region of ​​our source can be used in the developed reflectometer. Using the frequency-domain reflectometry technique, it is possible to perform spatial separation of FBG sensors, even with the use of the same reflection wavelengths. The possibility of measuring the temperature has been experimentally demonstrated.