Optical fiber sensor multiplexing reduces cost per sensor by designing a system that minimizes the expensive system components (sources, spectrometers, etc.) needed for a set number of sensors. The market for multiplexed optical sensors is growing as fiberoptic sensors are finding application in automated factories, mines, offshore platforms, air, sea, land, and space vehicles, energy distribution systems, medical patient surveillance systems, etc. Optical path length multiplexing (OPLM) is a modification to traditional white-light interferometry techniques to multiplex extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometers and optical path length two-mode sensors. Additionally, OPLM techniques can be used to design an optical fiber sensor to detect pressure/force/acceleration and temperature simultaneously at a single point. While power losses and operating range restrictions limit the broadscale applicability of OPLM, it provides a way to easily double or quadruple the number of sensors by modifying the demodulation algorithm. The exciting aspect of OPLM is that no additional hardware is needed to multiplex a few sensors. In this way OPLM works with conventional technology and algorithms to drastically increase their efficiency. [1] / Master of Science

This thesis studies frequency-shifted interferometry (FSI), a useful and versatile technique for fiber-optic sensing. I first present FSI theory by describing practical FSI configurations and discussing the parameters that affect system performance. Then, I demonstrate the capabilities of FSI in fiber-optic sensor multiplexing and high sensitivity chemical analysis. We implemented a cryogenic liquid level sensing system in which an array of 3 fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based sensors was interrogated by FSI. Despite sensors' spectral overlap, FSI is able to separate sensor signals according to their spatial locations and to measure their spectra, from which whether a sensor is in liquid or air can be unambiguously determined. I showed that a broadband source paired with a fast tunable filter can be used in FSI systems as the light source. An array of 9 spectrally overlapping FBGs was successfully measured by such a system, indicating the potential of system cost reduction as well as measurement speed improvement. I invented the the FSI-CRD technique, a highly sensitive FSI-based fiber cavity ring-down (CRD) method capable of deducing minuscule loss change in a fiber cavity from the intensity decay rate of continuous-wave light circulating in the cavity. As a proof-of-principle experiment, I successfully measured the fiber bend loss introduced in the fiber cavity with FSI-CRD, which was found to be 0.172 dB/m at a bend radius of 12.5 mm. We then applied FSI-CRD to evanescent-field sensing. We incorporated fiber tapers as the sensor head in the system and measured the concentration of 1-octyne solutions. A minimum detectable 1-octyne concentration of 0.29% was achieved with measurement sensitivity of 0.0094 dB/% 1-octyne. The same system also accurately detected the concentration change of sodium chloride (NaCl) and glucose solutions. Refractive index sensitivity of 1 dB/RIU with a measurement error of 1*10^-4 dB was attined for NaCl solutions. Finally, I proposed a theoretical model to study the polarization effects in FSI systems. Preliminary results show that the model can already explain the experimental observations. It not only provides insight into how to improve system performance but also suggests potential new applications of the technique.

This thesis studies frequency-shifted interferometry (FSI), a useful and versatile technique for fiber-optic sensing. I first present FSI theory by describing practical FSI configurations and discussing the parameters that affect system performance. Then, I demonstrate the capabilities of FSI in fiber-optic sensor multiplexing and high sensitivity chemical analysis. We implemented a cryogenic liquid level sensing system in which an array of 3 fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based sensors was interrogated by FSI. Despite sensors' spectral overlap, FSI is able to separate sensor signals according to their spatial locations and to measure their spectra, from which whether a sensor is in liquid or air can be unambiguously determined. I showed that a broadband source paired with a fast tunable filter can be used in FSI systems as the light source. An array of 9 spectrally overlapping FBGs was successfully measured by such a system, indicating the potential of system cost reduction as well as measurement speed improvement. I invented the the FSI-CRD technique, a highly sensitive FSI-based fiber cavity ring-down (CRD) method capable of deducing minuscule loss change in a fiber cavity from the intensity decay rate of continuous-wave light circulating in the cavity. As a proof-of-principle experiment, I successfully measured the fiber bend loss introduced in the fiber cavity with FSI-CRD, which was found to be 0.172 dB/m at a bend radius of 12.5 mm. We then applied FSI-CRD to evanescent-field sensing. We incorporated fiber tapers as the sensor head in the system and measured the concentration of 1-octyne solutions. A minimum detectable 1-octyne concentration of 0.29% was achieved with measurement sensitivity of 0.0094 dB/% 1-octyne. The same system also accurately detected the concentration change of sodium chloride (NaCl) and glucose solutions. Refractive index sensitivity of 1 dB/RIU with a measurement error of 1*10^-4 dB was attined for NaCl solutions. Finally, I proposed a theoretical model to study the polarization effects in FSI systems. Preliminary results show that the model can already explain the experimental observations. It not only provides insight into how to improve system performance but also suggests potential new applications of the technique.