Power control and temperature sensing for fiber-powered active sensors

Appl Opt. 2008 Nov 20;47(33):6207-11. doi: 10.1364/ao.47.006207.

Abstract

We report on a feedback optical power control technique applied to fiber powering active sensors. The active sensor consists of one laser: a 1310 nm Fabry-Perot laser or a 1550 nm distributed feedback laser. In order to power up these elements, a remote high-power laser operating at 1480 nm was used. Light conversion to electricity was achieved using indium phosphide photovoltaic cell proper to operate from 1000 to 1600 nm. Results show that the proposed control system provided sensor optical power with variation less than 0.2 dB when the temperature changed from 23 to 100 degrees C or for fiber link attenuation variation from 0 to 10 dB.