New measurement system for fault location in optical waveguide devices based on an interferometric technique

A new measurement system for fault location in optical waveguide devices is presented. The system consists of a fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder and a bulk-type Michelson interferometers. The spatial resolution of the scatter distribution is <380 μm, which is limited by the averaging time. The minimum detectable backscattered power is -116 dB relative to the light power propagating in the waveguides. Preliminary experimental results using single-mode fibers <10 cm long are demonstrated.