# US 10,120,101 B2 · Methods and systems using an optical receiver and electro-optic methods to transmit data from integrated computational elements > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,120,101 B2 - Document ID: US10120101B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/506,717 - Filed: 2015-07-27 - Published: 2017-08-31 - Granted: 2018-11-06 - Earliest claimed: 2015-07-27 - Assignees: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. - Applicants: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. - Inventors: David Andrew Barfoot; Tasneem Ammar Mandviwala; Etienne M. Samson - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10120101B2 ## CPC - G01V 8/10: Detecting, e.g. by using light barriers (by reflection from the object G01S17/00) - E21B 47/12: Means for transmitting measuring-signals or control signals from the well to the surface, or from the surface to the well, e.g. for logging while drilling - E21B 47/135: using light waves, e.g. infrared or ultraviolet waves - E21B 49/00: Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells - E21B 49/08: Obtaining fluid samples or testing fluids, in boreholes or wells - G01J 1/0219: {Electrical interface; User interface} - G01J 3/0218: {using optical fibers} - G01J 3/027: {Control of working procedures of a spectrometer; Failure detection; Bandwidth calculation} - G01J 3/28: Investigating the spectrum (using colour filters G01J3/51) - H04B 10/2587: using a single light source for multiple stations - G01J 2003/283: {computer-interfaced} - G01V: GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS; TAGS (means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons A63B29/02) - E21B: EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS - G01J: MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT, POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRARED, VISIBLE OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; RADIATION PYROMETRY (light sources F21, H01J, H01K, H05B; investigating properties of materials by optical means G01N) - H04B: TRANSMISSION ## Abstract An optical link including an optical computing device having an integrated computational element (ICE), and a method for using the device to perform a remote measurement of a characteristic of a sample with the optical computing device are provided. The optical computing device provides an optical computing signal proportional to a characteristic of a sample from an interacted light provided to the ICE. The device includes an optical transducer to provide a modulating signal based on the optical computing signal and a modulator to modulate a first portion of a transmission light in an optical waveguide based on the modulating signal. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A device, comprising: an optical computing device including an integrated computational element (ICE) and providing an optical computing signal proportional to a characteristic of a sample derived from interacted light provided to the ICE; an optical transducer that provides a modulating signal based on the optical computing signal; a modulator that modulates a first portion of a transmission light in an optical waveguide based on the modulating signal; an input coupler that provides the first portion of the transmission light to the modulator and further provides a second portion of the transmission light back to the optical waveguide; and an output coupler that reflects the first portion of the transmission light back through the modulator and out of the device through the input coupler. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The device of claim 1, wherein the optical waveguide includes an optical fiber and at least one of the input coupler and the output coupler is a fiber Bragg grating having a partial transmission rate and a partial reflection rate. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the input coupler and the output coupler is a wavelength selective element with a partial reflection rate that is higher for the first portion of the transmission light having a wavelength within a pre-selected band. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The device of claim 1, wherein the optical waveguide is an optical fiber having a low loss coefficient in a telecommunications wavelength band, and the transmission light exhibits a wavelength in the telecommunications wavelength band. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The device of claim 1, wherein the modulating signal is a voltage and the modulator is an electro-optic phase retarder having an index of refraction that changes according to the voltage. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The device of claim 1, wherein the optical transducer includes at least one of an electro-optical transducer or an all-optical transducer. ### Claim 7 A method, comprising: providing a transmission light to an optical waveguide coupled to an optical link, wherein the transmission light comprises multiple transmission light pulses transmitted at a pre-determined time from an optical source; selecting the pre-determined time according to a travel distance of the transmission light pulses and a location of the optical link within a plurality of optical links disposed along the optical waveguide; receiving an optical computing signal from an optical computing device in the optical link, the optical computing signal being proportional to a characteristic of a sample detected by the optical computing device; modulating the transmission light in the optical link based on the optical computing signal and thereby obtaining modulated transmission light; determining a modulation value of the modulated transmission light; and determining a value for the characteristic of the sample based on the modulation value. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein providing the transmission light includes: providing a first transmission light at a first wavelength and a second transmission light at a second wavelength; and selecting the first wavelength and the second wavelength within a telecommunications wavelength band. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein providing the transmission light includes providing a transmission light having a coherence length that is greater than twice an optical path length of the transmission light along the optical link. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein modulating the transmission light in the optical link includes providing a phase retardation to the transmission light based on the optical computing signal. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein determining the modulation value of the modulated transmission light includes coupling the modulated transmission light and an unmodulated transmission light to a detector using a waveguide splitter coupled to the optical waveguide. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein determining the modulation value of the modulated transmission light includes detecting an interference between the modulated transmission light and an unmodulated transmission light. ### Claim 13 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein determining the modulation value of the modulated transmission light includes determining a plurality of modulation values of the modulated transmission light received from a plurality of optical links disposed at different locations. ### Claim 14 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further including optically interacting an illumination light with the sample and an integrated computational element positioned in the optical computing device to form the optical computing signal. ### Claim 15 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further including determining the location of each of a plurality of optical links and associating the value of the characteristic of the sample with the location of each of the plurality of optical links. ### Claim 16 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further including modifying a borehole operation based on the value for the characteristic of the sample. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein modifying the borehole operation includes receiving the value for the characteristic of the sample from a plurality of optical links disposed at different locations along a borehole.