The application of fibre Bragg grating networks as strain sensors and as phased array antenna true time delay elements

The fabrication of in-fibre Bragg gratings, and the application of arrays of such gratings as strain sensors and as true time delay elements for the control of phased array antennas is reported. Chirped period Bragg gratings were produced using the fibre deformation fabrication technique, with chirps of between 2.9nm and 17.3nm achieved. Arrays of 5mm and 2mm long uniform period Bragg gratings were fabricated using the inscription method, for use as true time delay elements,dissimilar wavefronts and their spectral characteristics recorded. The uniform period grating arrays were used to create minimum time delays of 9.09ps, 19.02ps and 31ps; making them suitable for controlling phased array antennas operating at RF frequencies of up to 3GHz, with 10° phase resolution. Four 4mm long chirped gratings were produced using the dissimilar wavefronts fabrication method, having chirps of 7nm, 12nm, 20nm and 30nm, and were used to create time delays of between 0.3ps and 59ps. Hence they are suitable for controlling phased array antennas at RF frequencies of up to 48GHz. The application of in fibre Bragg gratings as strain sensors within smart structure materials was investigated, with their sensitivity to applied strain and compression measured for both embedded and surface mounted uniform period and fibre Fabry-Perot filter gratings. A fibre Bragg grating sensor demultiplexing scheme based on a liquid crystal filled Fabry-Perot etalon tuneable transmission filter was proposed, successfully constructed and fully characterised. Three characteristics of the LCFP etalon were found to pose operational limitations to its application in a Bragg grating sensor system; most significantly, the resonance peak wavelength was highly (-2,77nm/°C) temperature dependent. Several methods for minimising this temperature sensitivity were investigated, but enjoyed only limited success. It was therefore concluded that this type (E7 filled) of LCFP etalon is unsuitable for use as a Bragg grating sensor demultiplexing element.

From cardinal spline wavelet bases to highly coherent dictionaries

Wavelet families arise by scaling and translations of a prototype function, called the mother wavelet. The construction of wavelet bases for cardinal spline spaces is generally carried out within the multi-resolution analysis scheme. Thus, the usual way of increasing the dimension of the multi-resolution subspaces is by augmenting the scaling factor. We show here that, when working on a compact interval, the identical effect can be achieved without changing the wavelet scale but reducing the translation parameter. By such a procedure we generate a redundant frame, called a dictionary, spanning the same spaces as a wavelet basis but with wavelets of broader support. We characterize the correlation of the dictionary elements by measuring their 'coherence' and produce examples illustrating the relevance of highly coherent dictionaries to problems of sparse signal representation.

Comparison of frequency symmetric signal generation from a BPSK input using fiber and semiconductor-based nonlinear elements

This letter compares two nonlinear media for simultaneous carrier recovery and generation of frequency symmetric signals from a 42.7-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero binary phase-shift-keyed input by exploiting four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier and a highly nonlinear optical fiber for use in a phase-sensitive amplifier.

Highly sensitive liquid-level sensor based on dual-wavelength double-ring fiber laser assisted by beat frequency interrogation

A highly sensitive liquid-level sensor based on dual-wavelength single-longitudinal-mode fiber laser is proposed and demonstrated. The laser is formed by exploiting two parallel arranged phase-shift fiber Bragg gratings (ps-FBGs), acting as ultra-narrow bandwidth filters, into a doublering resonators. By beating the dual-wavelength lasing output, a stable microwave signal with frequency stability better than 5 MHz is obtained. The generated beat frequency varies with the change of dual-wavelength spacing. Based on this characteristic, with one ps-FBG serving as the sensing element and the other one acting as the reference element, a highly sensitive liquid level sensor is realized by monitoring the beat frequency shift of the laser. The sensor head is directly bonded to a float which can transfer buoyancy into axial strain on the fiber without introducing other elastic elements. The experimental results show that an ultra-high liquidlevel sensitivity of 2.12 × 107 MHz/m within the measurement range of 1.5 mm is achieved. The sensor presents multiple merits including ultra-high sensitivity, thermal insensitive, good reliability and stability. © 2012 Optical Society of America.