Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) allow for optical detection of localized physical effects without the need to couple the light out and back into a fiber, enabling robust and multiplexed sensor systems. The need of combining wide bandwidth and high resolution for dynamic sensing applications, like acoustics and vibrations, has presented significant challenges for FBG-based solutions. Here, we present a novel FBG-based measurement system enabled by using high-speed and highprecision tunable laser-based optical interrogation scheme. Multiple levels of integrated wavelength referencing coupled with low-noise high-speed electronics allow for spectral feature tracking at a resolution of <20 fm at kHz-frequencies. In combination with fiber accelerometers that employ unique force transmission mechanisms, amplifying strain on the Bragg grating and increasing the resonance frequency of the transducer, resolutions <10 μg (150 Hz bandwidth) to submg resolution in kHz-frequencies is achieved. Similarly, compact wavelength-multiplexed hydrophones with wide range linearity and dynamic range, sub-Pa resolution and flat-sensitivity down to static pressures are demonstrated. The sensors are demonstrated to be customizable to application-specific requirements, and designed to be scalable to large quantity reproducible manufacturing. In contrast to interferometry-based solutions, the tunable swept-laser detection scheme in combination with strain-based FBG sensors provides a cost-effective system that allows for easy scaling of sensor counts per fiber with multiple fibers being simultaneously recorded. Finally, the integrated high accuracy triggering and hybrid measurement capabilities present the potential to monitor sounds and vibrations in a wide range of applications from seismic surveys to machine and structural monitoring applications in harsh environments.

Date Published: 12 May 2016
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9852, Fiber Optic Sensors and Applications XIII, 98520I (12 May 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2223005

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9852:
Fiber Optic Sensors and Applications XIII
Eric Udd; Gary Pickrell; Henry H. Du, Editor(s)