Multi-mode optical fiber sensor and method
AssigneeSimmonds Precision Products, Inc.
InventorWilliam B. Spillman, Jr.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A multi-mode fiber optic sensor and method for optically sensing a physical perturbation includes a multi-mode optical fiber segment that accepts coherent monochromatic radiation from a suitable source. As the radiation is propagated in the fiber the various modes form a complex interference pattern that changes in response to a physical perturbation of the fiber. A detector provides an output signal to a signal processor that analyzes the signal as a function of the change in intensity to provide an information signal that is functionally related to the perturbation.
Claims10
A multi-mode fiber optical sensor sensitive to a physical perturbation comprising:
- a multi-mode optical fiber for transmitting optical energy between an input and an output in at least two modes to form an interference pattern between the at least two modes;
- a single mode optical fiber coupled to the input of said multi-mode optical fiber;
- means for providing optical energy to an input of said single-mode optical fiber for coupling to said multi-mode optical fiber, the optical energy sufficient to propagate in at least two modes along the multi-mode fiber, the interference pattern changing in response to a physical perturbation of the multi-mode fiber;
- and
- means for detecting an interference pattern from the output of said multi-mode optical fiber and for generating a signal functionally related to the perturbation and in response to an intensity variation of at least a part of the interference pattern.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.