Abstract
Distributed optical fiber Brillouin sensors provide innovative solutions
for the monitoring of temperature and strain in large structures. The
effective range of these sensors is typically of the order of
20–30 km, which limits their use in certain applications in which
the distance to monitor is larger. In this work, we have developed a new
technique to significantly extend the measurement distance of a distributed
Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Analysis (BOTDA) sensor. Distributed Raman
Amplification in the sensing fiber provides the means to enhance the
operating range of the setup. Three Raman pumping configurations are
theoretically and experimentally investigated: co-propagating,
counter-propagating and bidirectional propagation with respect to the
Brillouin pump pulse. We show that some of the amplification schemes tested
can extend the measurement range and improve the measurement quality over
long distances.
© 2010 IEEE
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