Polarization fading mitigation in distributed acoustic sensors based on a high-speed polarization rotator

Opt Lett. 2022 Mar 1;47(5):1283-1286. doi: 10.1364/OL.450388.

Abstract

A distributed optical fiber acoustic sensor based on interferometric demodulation technique with no polarization fading is demonstrated. A polarization diversity scheme based on a high-speed polarization rotator is used to eliminate signal fading due to polarization mismatch in the Rayleigh backscattered signal between adjacent points on the sensing fiber. This technique yields a spatially uniform response to the applied strain. The sensor exhibited spatial and strain resolutions of <4 m and <7 nɛ, respectively.