Simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature using a polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber with stimulated Brillouin scattering

Abstract

We demonstrate the simultaneous and distributed sensing of temperature and strain by combining the Brillouin dynamic grating (BDG) and Brillouin gain spectrum (BGS) using a polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber (PM-PCF). The characterization of the birefringence frequency shift of the PM-PCF shows that it remains almost unchanged within the temperature range of 5–80 °C, which allows a temperature-insensitive strain measurement using only the BDG. Combining the BDG and BGS, we demonstrate the simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain with a spatial resolution of 20 cm over a 5-m-long PM-PCF.