Optical pulse compression reflectometry: proposal and proof-of-concept experiment.

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel reflectometry based on the frequency modulation pulse-compression technology, called optical pulse compression reflectometry (OPCR). Linear frequency modulation (LFM) pulse is taken as an example to implement the OPCR. Its working principle and theoretical analysis are demonstrated. The spatial resolution is determined by the sweeping range of the LFM rather than the pulse width, which overcomes the tradeoff between spatial resolution and measurement range in the conventional pulse-based optical time domain reflectometry. The influence of the laser's phase noise on the integrated side lobe ratio and peak side lobe ratio is theoretically studied. Thanks to the continuous acquisition nature of the OPCR, time averaging is valid to eliminate the influence and results in the measurement range of the OPCR beyond a few times of the source coherent length. A proof-of-concept experiment of the OPCR is carried out to verify the spatial resolution and measurement range.