Fiber-optic temperature sensor used for oil well based on semiconductor optical absorption

Abstract

This paper describes an optical-fiber sensor developed for temperature measurement under offshore oil well conditions. The sensor exploits the displacement of the optical absorption edge occurring in semiconductors under the influence of temperature variation as a result of temperature-induced energy shifting of conduction band extrema. The structure of the sensor and the measurement principle are described. The common-path reference measurement and node type error compensation technologies are developed. And, the detailed theoretical analysis indicates that the proposed sensor system can effectively improve measurement errors caused by light fluctuation, difference and variation of the detector responsiveness, circuit magnification times, and so on. It proves that this sensor system can be applied under long-term formidable conditions with fairly good measurement stability.