Conventional fiber optic interferometric sensors employing a monochromatic source prove to be inadequate for applications requiring absolute, real-time value of magnitude and direction of the applied perturbation. This limitation can be overcome by using a broadband light source to extract unambiguous information from the sensor in the wavelength domain. Several variations in the signal processing techniques for white light interferometry are discussed and compared in terms of resolution, bandwidth and cost. A detailed analysis is made of the principle of operation and basic features of the commercially available absolute sensing system. This compact system is self calibrating, has a 100 micro-strain Ole) strain and 2°C temperature resolution and is ideal for applications in environments where the parameter to be measured is static or quasi-static. High finesse Fabry-Perot cavities are employed to obtain almost an order of magnitude sensitivity improvement over conventional low finesse cavities. The principle of white light interferometry is extended to absolute axial stain and temperature sensing in two-mode, elliptical-core fibers. Other novel applications, such as to operation of photo induced refractive index gratings and fiber characterization are proposed. / Master of Science

Random hole optical fibers (RHOF) offer advantages over other types of microstructured optical fibers (MOFs). They are inexpensive and easy-to-make when compared to the high cost of ordered hole MOFs. They also have unique characteristics since they contain open and closed holes. The open holes contain ambient air under normal conditions and the closed holes contain residual gases from the fabrication process at certain pressure. The objective of this research work was to investigate the radiation resistance of Random Hole Optical Fibers (RHOF) for possible use as both sensing element and data transmission medium in nuclear reactor instrumentation and control applications. This work is motivated by the demand for efficient, cost effective, and safe operation of nuclear power plants, which accounts for more than 14% of the world's electricity production. This work has studied the effect of gamma irradiation on RHOF fibers by comparing their performance to that of standard solid telecommunication fibers and commercially available specialty solid fiber designed to be radiations hardened fiber. The fibers were evaluated at different absorbed dose levels: 12 mGy(Si), 350 mGy(Si), and 7200 Gy(Si) by measuring their radiation induced absorption (RIA) on-line. In the low dose test, the maximum RIA measured in untreated RHOF was approximately 8 dB while the RIA in the untreated MMF fibers reached a maximum at about 28 dB. In the high dose test, the maximum RIA measured in untreated RHOF was 36 dB while RIA in the methanol washed RHOF was only 9 dB. RHOF also demonstrated superior radiation damage recovery time over all of the other fibers tested. Based on the experimental evaluations, it was deduced that RHOFs used in this work are resistant to gamma radiation. and recover from radiation damage at a faster rate compared to other fibers tested. The radiation induced absorption (RIA) at the 1550 nm window in the RHOF fibers could be attributed to the OH absorption band tail. However, the existence of other mechanisms responsible for RIA is also postulated. Some of these mechanisms include bulk and surface defects which are related to the fabrication process and the influence of the gases confined within the RHOF microstructure. Gamma radiation resistance of RHOFs can be attributed to the lack of dopants and also possibly the inherent OH and nitrogen content. The behavior of thermally annealed RHOF and their fast recovery is in favor of this hypothesis. / Master of Science

A liquid core fiber sensor can be used to sense both strain and temperature simultaneously. This liquid core fiber sensor is comprised of a hollow core optical fiber filled with a liquid of a known index of refraction which is slightly higher than that of the silica tube which acts as the cladding. The refractive index fluid is chosen such that the variation of its refractive index with strain and temperature is well defined and linear in the desired range of operation. The core of the sensing fiber contains a fluid which has a thermo-optic coefficient much larger in magnitude (-4.0x10⁻⁴/°C) than that of the silica cladding. This causes the fiber to be more sensitive to temperature changes than all-silica fibers. Both transmitted optical signal intensity and time-of-flight depend strongly on applied strain and temperature. Furthermore, the relative difference between the core and cladding refractive indices changes as a function of both parameters due to the inherently different material types used in the fiber construction. This results in critical strain and temperature regimes within which the refractive index difference is very small, and sensitivity is optimized. Testing of prototype sensors demonstrates these characteristics. A 0.47 m long liquid core fiber containing a liquid with a room temperature refractive index of 1.492 was analyzed. Both time- and intensity-domain behaviors around the device's critical temperature (95°C) confirm theoretical expectations. Simultaneous strain and temperature measurements were performed between 95 °C and 105 °C. Methods for multiplexing liquid core fibers for increasing the range of temperatures that can be monitored were also investigated as well as using those liquid core fibers for cooling purposes. / Master of Science

The state of cure of epoxies is an important issue in the manufacture of graphite epoxy composites used in aerospace structures. Variations in the initial state and process used to cure the epoxy resin in a composite material lead to variations in the mechanical properties of the part manufactured from the composite._[12] Control of these variation can be accomplished by monitoring the bulk and shear moduli of the epoxy resin as it cures. The moduli properties of the resin determine the acoustic properties of the epoxy._{[12],[13],[14]} Hence measurement of the acoustic longitudinal velocity and attenuation of the epoxy during its cure cycle provides a good indicator of the state of cure. Optical fiber waveguides can be embedded within a host material and used to detect longitudinal acoustic waves._[15],[16] Herein, the mechanisms allowing the detection of ultrasound with optical fiber are presented. An analysis of optical fiber waveguides and optical fiber based interferometric detection methods is performed in detail. The interaction of radial strain fields, induced by longitudinal acoustic waves, with singlemode optical fibers is described. Experimental results obtained in epoxy cure monitoring, using an optical fiber based method for acoustic detection, are compared with results obtained using conventional piezoelectric based acoustic detection methods. / Master of Science

[pt] Esta tese trata do desenvolvimento de sensores para a monitoração do fluxo de campo magnético utilizando fibras ópticas. A principal motivação reside no uso destes sensores no control da condição de hidrogeradores. Duas tecnologias de sensoriamento com fibras ópticas são exploradas. A primeira baseia-se no uso de redes de Bragg e a segunda no emprego de interferômetros modais em fibras ópticas microestruturadas que apresentam alta birefringência. Em ambos os casos as fibras são recobertas por uma camada de material compósito magnetoestrictivo, que responde ao campo magnético deformando-se. Esta deformação é transferida para a rede de Bragg ou para a fibra microestruturada, produzindo uma resposta dependente do campo magnético. Os sensores desenvolvidos são leves e compactos. O sensor baseado em redes de Bragg, de formato cilíndrico com 1,5 mm de diâmetro e 7 mm de comprimento, passou por testes estáticos em campos magnéticos de até 750 mT tendo apresentado uma resolução de 0,3 mT. Testes dinâmicos foram realizados em um rotor de bancada desbalanceado e os resultados obtidos comparados com os fornecidos por um sensor magnético de efeito Hall mostrando excelente concordância. O sensor a fibra óptica interferométrico foi caracterizado estaticamente, tendo apresentado uma sensibilidade ao campo magnético duas vezes superior à do sensor baseado em redes de Bragg. / [en] This work explores the use of optical fiber sensors for the measurement of magnetic fields. In focus are applications in the condition monitoring of hydrogenerators, in particular for the measurement of the air gap, which consists in the space between rotor and stator of the synchronous machine. Two different fiber optic sensing principles were employed to develop magnetic field sensors. The first was based on fiber Bragg gratings and the second on an in-fiber modal interferometer, where the two orthogonally polarized modes of a high birefringent microstructured fiber generate fringes over the optical spectrum of a broad band source. In both cases, the fibers are coated by a thick layer of a magnetostrictive composite that deforms due to changes in its magnetization state. Strains in the coating are transferred to the fiber and measured by the sensor. The developed sensors are light and compact. The Bragg grating magnetic field sensor is cylindrical in shape with diameter of 1.5 mm and 7 mm long. The sensor was tested at magnetic fields of up to 750 mT under static conditions. The resolution achieved with a commercial interrogator was estimated at 0.4 mT. Dynamic tests were carried out in a laboratory rotor that presented a magnetic unbalance of approximately 7 percent in one of its four poles. Results were compared with a Hall Effect sensor showing excellent agreement. The interferometric sensor was characterized and results of static tests demonstrated that its sensibility to changes in the magnetic field is twice that of the sensor based on Bragg gratings.

[pt] Nesse trabalho, descreve-se o desenvolvimento de uma calibração do sistema de interrogação dos espectros das redes de Bragg baseando-se em uma simulação numérica adotada de testes experimentais. O objetivo é calibrar a técnica de demodulação óptica utilizando dois filtros de transmissão fixos, procurando-se principalmente a posição verdadeira dos sensores. O espectro refletido de uma rede tem uma forte dependência com o espectro da luz incidente que resultará em uma deformação no espectro refletido da rede, gerando um desvio no sensor detectado. A metodologia é gerar uma perturbação na fonte de luz e analisar a leitura do espectro da rede. Esse desvio gerado na leitura espectral é associado à potência óptica lida nos fotodetectores com a posição do comprimento de onda do sensor; as leituras indicadas são proporcionais ao grau de superposição entre os espectros do sensor e dos filtros. A calibração é enfatizada em simulações comparando-se com resultados experimentais e será recuperado principalmente o espectro deformado da rede por um espectro indicado que fornecerá a informação correta da posição do sensor. A simulação conclui em uma recuperação do espectro deformado, diminuindo incertezas de medição e da posição do sensor comparando-se com medidas experimentais proporcionando bons resultados. / [en] The development of a calibration system for Fiber Bragg Grating sensors based on two fixed spectral filters has been described basing in adopted numeric simulation of experimental tests. The objective is to gage the technique of optical demodulação using two fixed transmission filters, being sought mainly the true position spectral of sensors. The reflected spectrum of a Bragg Grating has a strong dependence with the spectrum of the incident light that will result in a deformation to the reflected spectrum, generating a deviation in the sensor detected. The methodology will be to generate a disturbance in the light source and to analyze the reading of the spectrum Bragg Grating. That deviation in the position is associated to the potency optical work in the photodetectors with the position of wavelength sensor; the suitable readings in the photodetectors are proportional to the overlap degree among the spectra of the sensor and filters. The calibration will be emphasized in simulations being compared with experimental results, and to recover mainly the deformed spectrum of Bragg Grating sensor for a suitable spectrum that will give the correct information at the position of sensor. The simulation ends in a recovery of the deformed spectrum, reducing measurement uncertainties and of the position of sensor, being compared with experimental results.

Les fibres optiques sont présentes de manière incontournable dans les télécommunications et les réseaux d’accès à internet. Longs fils de verre fabriqués en silice vitreuse ultra pure, elles permettent de transmettre des informations sur de longues distances sous forme de signaux lumineux. Malgré leurs capacités de transmission déjà excellentes, la réduction des pertes optiques demeure un enjeu économique. En effet, en dessous d’une certaine atténuation, il est possible de supprimer des amplificateurs localisés dans des zones peu accessibles où leur installation est très couteuse. L’objectif de ce travail de thèse est donc d’explorer de nouvelles voies permettant de réduire significativement l’atténuation du signal optique.La silice est un élément de choix pour les applications optiques du fait de ses propriétés physico-chimiques (haute transparence de l’IR à l’UV, forte résistance mécanique,…). L’incorporation de composés dans le verre de silice modifie ses caractéristiques (viscosité, densité,…) sans détérioration des propriétés optiques ; en particulier l’ajout de fluor F diminue son indice de réfraction tandis que l’oxyde de germanium GeO2 l’augmente. En revanche, le désordre structural du verre augmente avec ces ajouts et, par conséquent, l’atténuation de même. Ce désordre dépend de l’histoire thermique et est décrit au moyen de la température fictive Tf qui correspond à la température pour laquelle la structure du verre a été gelée. La Tf du verre détermine de nombreuses propriétés du matériau telles que les fluctuations d’indice de réfraction et de densité.La diffusion Rayleigh est la principale source de pertes dans les fibres optiques, représentant une part de ~90% à la longueur d’onde de 1550 nm. Cette diffusion trouve son origine dans les fluctuations de constante diélectrique dont deux types de contributions sont déjà connues : les fluctuations de densité et les fluctuations de concentration. En appliquant une approche thermodynamique, un autre terme est proposé pour compléter cette description : les fluctuations de température fictive, résultant d’une distribution des temps de relaxation du verre. Cette approche a mis en évidence l’importance d’étudier la relation existante entre la densité ρ et la Tf d’une part, et entre l’indice n et la Tf d’autre part, afin de réduire les pertes par diffusion Rayleigh.Dans une fibre optique, ce sont les conditions de fibrage essentiellement, c’est-à-dire la température, la tension et la vitesse, qui déterminent le passé thermique du matériau. Une étude expérimentale a permis de distinguer l’impact de ces conditions sur les pertes par diffusion dans des fibres monomodes conventionnelles. Les connaissances sur l’origine des objets diffusants (tailles et formes) dans les fibres d’histoires thermiques différentes ont pu être approfondies. Idéalement, il faudrait pouvoir s’affranchir des conditions de fibrage. Contrairement aux autres verres d’oxydes, le verre de silice admet un comportement dit ‘anormal’ pour sa densité : celle-ci augmente avec la température fictive. Cette anomalie disparait en incorporant une certaine quantité d’éléments chimiques (F, Cl, GeO2 mais pas TiO2) dans le matériau. Nous avons montré que certaines compositions, en supprimant la sensibilité de la diffusion Rayleigh à la Tf, permettent de minimiser les pertes optiques de la famille de fibres que nous avons étudiées.La spectroscopie Raman a ensuite été utilisée afin de comprendre l’origine structurale de cette anomalie. Les mesures réalisées ont montrées que les bandes D1 et D2 reliées à la vibration des petits cycles de tétraèdres dans le verre ne sont pas corrélées à la densité macroscopique. En conséquence, elles ne constituent pas une signature fiable du phénomène de densification dans les verres binaires. Des études complémentaires sur la coordinence du silicium dans la matrice sont nécessaires pour pouvoir conclure sur l’origine structurale de l’anomalie de la silice. / Optical fibers are inevitably present in telecommunications and Internet access networks. Long glass threads made of ultra-pure vitreous silica, they allow to relay information on long distances in the form of light signal. Despite their good transmission capacities, the reduction of optical losses remains an economical stake. Indeed, under a certain attenuation, it is possible to avoid amplifiers located in hardly accessible area where their setting is very expensive. The objective of this work is thus to explore new ways allowing to reduce significantly optical signal attenuation.The silica is a specific element for optical applications because of its physical chemistry properties (high transparency from IR to UV, strong mechanical resistance,…). Adding components in silica glass changes its characteristics (viscosity, density,…) without strong deterioration of optical properties. Especially, the addition of fluorine decreases the refractive index whereas germanium oxide GeO2 increases it. However, the glass structural disorder increases, and, therefore the optical attenuation as well. The disorder depends on thermal history. It is described by means of fictive temperature Tf that corresponds to the temperature at which the glass structure is frozen. The Tf of glass determines many material properties such as the fluctuations of refractive index and density. Rayleigh scattering is the main reason of optical losses in optical fibers, representing ~90% at 1550 nm wavelength. This scattering originates from the dielectric constant fluctuations, which contain two kinds of contributions: the density and the concentration fluctuations. By applying a thermodynamics approach, another term is suggested to complete this description: the fictive temperature fluctuations, resulting from a distribution of glass relaxation times. This approach highlighted importance of studying the relationship between density ρ and Tf on one hand, and between index n and Tf on the other hand, in order to reduce the Rayleigh scattering losses.In optical fiber process, Tf is essentially defined by the drawing conditions, i.e. furnace temperature, fiber drawing tension and speed. An experimental study allowed distinguishing the impact of these conditions on scattering losses in single mode conventional fibers. The knowledge about the origin of scattered objects (sizes and shapes) in fibers with different thermal histories has been made deeper. Ideally, it should be better to be disconnected from the drawing conditions.Contrary to the other oxide glasses, silica glass presents an anomalous behavior for its density: this one increases with fictive temperature. This anomaly disappears by adding a certain amount of chemical elements (F, Cl, GeO2, but not TiO2) in the material. We showed that some compositions, by deleting sensitivity of Rayleigh scattering to Tf, allows minimizing optical losses in the fibers family we studied. Raman spectroscopy has been then used in order to understand structural origin of this anomaly. Measurements revealed that D1 and D2 bands, which are related to small tetrahedral membered rings vibrations in glass, are not correlated to the macroscopic density. Consequently, they are not a reliable signature of densification phenomenon in binary glasses. Supplementary studies about the silicon coordination in the network are needed to conclude on structural origin of the silica anomaly.

The propagation of light beams in inhomogeneous dielectric media is considered. The derivation begins with first principles and remains general enough to include off-axis asymmetric multimode input beams in tapered lenslike media with spatial variations of gain or loss. The tapering of lenslike media leads to a number of important applications. A parabolic taper is proposed as a model for a heated axially stretched fiber taper, and beams in such media are fully characterized. Other models are proposed by the concatenation of a parabola with other taper functions.

A solar fiber optic lighting system, SP3 from the Swedish company Parans Solar Lighting AB, has been installed in a study area/corridor test site. A collector is tracking the sun during daytime, focusing the direct sun irradiance via Fresnel lenses into optical fibers, which guide the solar light into the building. The illumination properties of the system have been characterized. The energy saving due to reduced need of artificial lighting have been calculated and methods for balancing the artificial lights in the test site have been evaluated. The illumination at the test site using solar light was at least as high as when using the artificial lights and even higher at very clear days. The luminous flux output (500 lm) was somewhat lower than specified by the manufacturer (550 lm) at 100 000 lx direct sun illuminance. The output at 130 000 lx was high 767±33 lm the sunlight coupling efficiency 23 %. However, for a 20 m SP3 system the luminous flux output (400 lm) at 100 000 lx was higher than specified (350 lm). The SP3 system of Parans provides high quality solar light. It has a fuller spectrum close to the spectrum of the sun compared to the fluorescent lights at the test site. The correlated color temperature of the system was 5800±300 K and the color rendering index 84.9±0.5. The lighting energy saved due to decreased need for artificial light was estimated to 19 % in Uppsala which has 1790 annual sun hours. The savings in Italy, which has 3400 sun hours, is 46 %. Additional saving, especially in warmer countries can be obtained due to decreased need for cooling in the building as the solar luminaires provide negligible heat to the indoor air. Economical saving could also be realized by improved well-being of the occupants spending time under the solar luminaires. Three ways of balancing the artificial light due to sunshine fluctuations have been investigated. The global horizontal irradiance could not be used as a control signal for balancing the artificial lights but a pyranometer attached to the SP3 sun tracking collector was usable. Also the signal from an indoor luxmeter sensor could be used for balancing the light. However the signal from the light sensor which makes the SP3 collector to track the sun is probably the most cost effective method as it would serve two purposes; tracking the sun and balancing the artificial lights.

The use of optical fiber is of great interest in developing extensive, high-speed networking infrastructures. Optical fiber provide many advantages over traditional copper cables and wireless links. Among them are high security, low electromagnetic interference, extremely low loss and high bandwidths, light weight and manageability. However, the very small wavelengths associated with optical radiation requires very small waveguide dimensions. Waveguide dimension of single mode fiber (SMF) are < 10µm, resulting in relatively poor yield in device manufacturing. For residential and other last-mile networks topologies, cost constraints limit the appeal of SMF. Multimode fiber (MMF) allow for less restrictive manufacturing tolerances; however, the distortion that results from the dispersion in propagation among the many modes can be prohibitively large for data rates approaching and exceeding 1 Gb/s. To improve the deployability of MMF, a method of dispersion compensation that maintains the ease-of-use characteristic of MMF is required This dissertation demonstrates an opto-electronic method of dispersion compensation by the use of a multisegment photodetector. It is shown the modes of the fiber can be seperated such that when the individual photodetector signals are combined, the resulting temporal response of the fiber link is improved from that of a conventional fiber link. This method is extremely robust to system variation and is independent of data rate and transmission format, allowing it to be employed in a wide variety of optical links. More importantly, the implementation demonstrated is comparable, in simplicity and alignment tolerance, to a conventional photodetector. System performance is shown using both temporal and frequency response as well as real bit error rate and eye diagram measurements.