Rayleigh scattering optical frequency correlation in a single-mode optical fiber

The bichromatic optical frequency correlation function for Rayleigh backscattering from a pulse of laser light propagating along a single-mode optical fiber has been calculated and measured. It is shown that the optical correlation frequency, Deltav(c), is equal to the reciprocal of pulse width tau (w). These results are important for the development of wavelength diversity techniques for the reduction of coherent Rayleigh noise in distributed Rayleigh backscattering single-mode optical fiber sensors.