Intensity-modulated fiber Bragg grating sensor system based on radio-frequency signal measurement

An intensity-modulated, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor system based on radio-frequency (RF) signal measurement is presented. The RF signal is generated at a photodetector by two modulated optical signals reflected from the sensing FBG and a reference FBG. Wavelength shift of the sensing FBG changes intensity of the RF signal through changing the delay between the two optical signals, with temperature effect being compensated automatically by the reference FBG. It also exhibits important features including potentially high-speed measurement, low cost, and adjustable sensitivity. In the experiment, strain measurement with a maximum sensitivity of -0.34 mu W/mu epsilon has been achieved. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.