Resolution-increased fiber-optic strain sensor with a large dynamic range driven by white light

Opt Lett. 2024 Feb 15;49(4):1057-1060. doi: 10.1364/OL.510910.

Abstract

The white light interferometer is advantageous for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), but the excessive noise floor limits its application in practicality. In this Letter, we propose a fiber-optic sensor driven by a broadband light source, which uses a fiber-optic Fabry-Perot cavity and a reference interferometer to enhance strain resolution. In the experiment, the strain resolution of a 5.86 m resonant sensor is 18.5 fɛ/H z at 1.5 kHz, while the maximum detectable signal is over 230 rad at 1 kHz. With low cost, this method provides a new, to the best of our knowledge, solution for WDM sensing arrays with a large dynamic range.