Remote Sensing Methods and Systems Using Nonlinear Light Conversion and Sense Signal Transformation

A remote sensing method, comprising:

• generating a light pulse;
• conveying the light pulse to a remote location;
• converting the light pulse to a broadened or spectrum-shifted light pulse;
• performing a sense operation at the remote location using the broadened or spectrum-shifted light pulse and generating an electrical signal corresponding to the sense operation;
• and
• transforming the electrical signal to an optical signal for conveyance to a sense signal collection interface.

A downhole monitoring system, comprising:

• a surface light source;
• and
• a plurality of downhole sensor zones, each of the downhole sensor zones having a nonlinear light converter optically coupled to the surface light source, a plurality of sensors, and an electro-optical interface for each of the sensors,
• wherein each of the nonlinear light converters is configured to convert a light pulse received from the surface light source to a broadened or spectrum-shifted light pulse,
• wherein each of the sensors is configured to perform sense operations using broadened or spectrum-shifted light pulses and to output a corresponding electrical signal;
• and
• wherein each electro-optical interface is configured to transform electrical signals to optical signals for conveyance to a sense signal collection interface.