Stabilizing operation point technique based on the tunable distributed feedback laser for interferometric sensors

Abstract

We describe a stabilizing operation point technique based on the tunable Distributed Feedback (DFB) laser for quadrature demodulation of interferometric sensors. By introducing automatic lock quadrature point and wavelength periodically tuning compensation into an interferometric system, the operation point of interferometric system is stabilized when the system suffers various environmental perturbations. To demonstrate the feasibility of this stabilizing operation point technique, experiments have been performed using a tunable-DFB-laser as light source to interrogate an extrinsic Fabry–Perot interferometric vibration sensor and a diaphragm-based acoustic sensor. Experimental results show that good tracing of Q-point was effectively realized.