Phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry with pulse mode EDFA: Probe pulse preparation

TL;DR

This paper presents a cost-effective phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry setup using pulse mode EDFA, achieving high probe pulse amplification with minimal distortion for fiber-optic sensing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel pulse mode EDFA regime that enhances probe pulse amplification while reducing distortion, improving sensitivity and cost-efficiency of $\

Findings

Achieved large probe pulse amplification with low distortion.

Demonstrated cost-effective setup avoiding nonlinear effects.

Enhanced sensitivity of fiber-optic sensing system.

Abstract

Probe pulse preparation techniques play an important role for fiber-optic sensing. In this work, we investigate a setup for distributed sensors based on phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometry ($\Phi$-OTDR) with the use of an erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA). In our $\Phi$-OTDR setup with pulse mode EDFA, we reveal a regime providing us both sufficiently large amplification of the probe pulse power together and adequately small probe pulse distortion. We then show that the use of pulse mode EDFA is a cost-effective solution, which allows one to avoid nonlinear effect and ensure sufficient sensitivity of the setup.