Results for “Few-mode fiber” — Page 2

NASA NTRS1990

Elliptical-core two-mode optical-fiber sensor implementation methods

We present experimental methods for the practical implementation of few-mode elliptical-core sensors. Techniques for desensitizing the lead-in and lead-out fibers are discussed and results of a vibration sensor embedded in a graphite-epoxy composite are presented. A scheme using a single-mode elliptical-core fiber as the lead-in fiber and an offset circular-core single-mode fiber as the lead-out fiber is successfully implemented. Detection techniques for few-mode fiber sensors are reviewed and a novel fringe-counting method to unambiguously detect the amplitude and direction of dynamic strain is reported for the first time.

Murphy, Kent A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Active vibration control using a modal-domain fiber optic sensor

A closed-loop control experiment is described in which vibrations of a cantilevered beam are suppressed using measurements from a modal-domain fiber optic sensor. Modal-domain sensors are interference between the modes of a few-mode optical waveguide to detect strain. The fiber is bonded along the length of the beam and provides a measurement related to the strain distribution on the surface of the beam. A model for the fiber optic sensor is derived, and this model is integrated with the dynamic model of the beam. A piezoelectric actuator is also bonded to the beam and used to provide control forces. Control forces are obtained through dynamic compensation of the signal from the fiber optic sensor. The compensator is implemented with a real-time digital controller. Analytical models are verified by comparing simulations to experimental results for both open-loop and closed-loop configurations.

Cox, David E.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Few-Mode Whispering-Gallery-Mode Resonators

Whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) optical resonators of a type now under development are designed to support few well-defined waveguide modes. In the simplest case, a resonator of this type would support one equatorial family of WGMs; in a more complex case, such a resonator would be made to support two, three, or some other specified finite number of modes. Such a resonator can be made of almost any transparent material commonly used in optics. The nature of the supported modes does not depend on which material is used, and the geometrical dispersion of this resonator is much smaller than that of a typical prior WGM resonator. Moreover, in principle, many such resonators could be fabricated as integral parts of a single chip. Basically, a resonator of this type consists of a rod, made of a suitable transparent material, from which protrudes a thin circumferential belt of the same material. The belt is integral with the rest of the rod (see figure) and acts as a circumferential waveguide. If the depth (d) and width (w) of the belt are made appropriately small, then the belt acts as though it were the core of a single-mode optical fiber: the belt and its adjacent supporting rod material support a single, circumferentially propagating mode or family of modes. It has been shown theoretically that the fiber-optic-like behavior of the belton- rod resonator structure can be summarized, in part, by the difference, Dn, between (1) an effective index of refraction of an imaginary fiber core and (2) the index of refraction (n) of the transparent rod/belt material. It has also been shown theoretically that for a given required value of Dn, the required depth of the belt can be estimated as d R Dn, where R is the radius of the rod. It must be emphasized that this estimated depth is independent of n and, hence, is independent of the choice of rod material. As in the cases of prior WGM resonators, input/output optical coupling involves utilization of evanescent fields. In the present case, there are two evanescent fields: one at the belt/air interface and one in the boundary region between the belt and the rest of the rod.

Savchenkov, Anatoliy↗