Sagnac/Michelson distributed sensing systems

A sensor system to sense one or more environmental effects said system including:

• a first fiber optic beamsplitter having:
• a first arm;
• a second arm;
• a third arm;
• and
• a fourth arm;
• a first light source that produces a first beam of light into said first arm, said first fiber optic beamsplitter splitting said first beam of light into second and third beams of light on said third and fourth arms of said first fiber optic beamsplitter respectively;
• a second fiber optic beamsplitter having:
• a first arm;
• a second arm;
• a third arm;
• and
• a fourth arm;
• a third fiber optic beamsplitter having:
• a first arm;
• a second arm;
• a third arm;
• and
• a fourth arm, said third arm of said first beamsplitter being connected to said first arm of said second beamsplitter, and said fourth arm of said first beamsplitter being connected to said second arm of said third beamsplitter;
• a first optical pathway connecting said third arm of said second beamsplitter to said fourth arm of said third beamsplitter, said first optical pathway having:
• a center;
• a first spectrally reflective element placed in said first optical pathway spaced from said center;
• and
• a first interferometric readout detector connected to said second arm of said second beamsplitter, said first interferometric detector being connected to said first arm of said third beamsplitter to receive a light signal from said spectrally reflective element that is independent of frequency and position;
• a first detector connected to said second arm of said first beamsplitter to receive a light signal that is dependent on position, amplitude and frequency of a first environmental effect on said first optical pathway;
• and
• an electronic controller to receive signals from said first detector and said first interferometric detector to produce outputs therefrom indicating the movement of said first spectrally reflective element, and the position and amplitude of the first environmental effect.

A sensor system to sense an environmental effect, said system including:

• a light source for producing light;
• an optical loop having:
• a center;
• a beamsplitter connected to receive the light from said light source and split the light from said light source to travel in clockwise and counterclockwise directions about said loop;
• a spectrally reflective element placed in said optical loop spaced from said center, said spectrally reflective element reflecting a portion of the light traveling in counterclockwise direction into partial spectrum light traveling clockwise in said optical loop, and reflecting a portion of the light traveling in clockwise direction into partial spectrum light traveling counterclockwise in said optical loop, the reflected partial spectrum light traveling clockwise and counterclockwise combining at said beamsplitter, and the light traveling clockwise and counterclockwise missing the reflected partial spectrum light combining at said beamsplitter;
• detector means connected to receive the combined reflected partial spectrum light to produce therefrom:
• a first output signal whose amplitude varies with position, frequency and amplitude of the environmental effect on said optical loop, said detector means also being connected to receive the combined light missing the reflected partial spectrum light to produce therefrom:
• a second output signal whose amplitude is representative of the environmental effect independent of position and frequency of the environmental effect.