High sensitivity optical time-domain reflectometry based on Brillouin dynamic grating in polarization maintaining fiber

We newly propose and experimentally demonstrate high-sensitivity optical time-domain reflectometry based on Brillouin dynamic grating in polarization maintaining fiber. Distributed measurements with strain sensitivity as high as similar to 1 MHz/mu epsilon is demonstrated in a 110 m fiber under test with 0.8 m spatial resolution. The operation principle with the condition for proper measurement of the grating spectrum and the advantageous features such as low operating power, high signal to noise ratio, and simple data-acquisition process are explained in comparison with ordinary Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometry, which is verified by the experimental results.