Fiber-optic cascaded forward Brillouin scattering seeded by backward stimulated Brillouin scattering: conceptual proposal and experimental validation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method for generating cascaded forward Brillouin scattering using backward stimulated Brillouin scattering as a seed, validated through experiments in a long fiber, with potential sensing applications.

Contribution

It presents a new approach combining counter-propagated pump-probe technique with backward SBS to generate CFBS, supported by experimental validation and sensing property analysis.

Findings

CFBS generated with high SNR in a 390-m fiber

Center frequencies match theoretical acoustic resonance values

CFBS shows promising sensing capabilities

Abstract

We propose a method for generating cascaded forward Brillouin scattering (CFBS), based on a counter-propagated pump-probe technique, utilizing backward stimulated Brillouin scattering as its seed. The CFBS, induced by forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (FSBS), is generated via the energy transfer from the probe light to other acoustic resonance frequencies. Experimental results for the CFBS generated in a 390-m-long highly nonlinear fiber indicate that it has a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and that the center frequencies of its acoustic resonance peaks agree with theoretical values. The sensing properties of the generated CFBS were also verified.