Open AccessAnalysis of enhanced-performance fibre Brillouin ring laser for Brillouin sensing applications
Author(s) -
Leonardo Rossi,
Diego Marini,
Filippo Bastianini,
G. Bolognini
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.27.029448
Subject(s) - optics , laser linewidth , brillouin scattering , materials science , brillouin zone , relative intensity noise , fiber laser , laser , heterodyne detection , optical fiber , noise (video) , wavelength , optoelectronics , physics , semiconductor laser theory , artificial intelligence , computer science , image (mathematics)
In this work, we present an enhanced design for a Brillouin ring laser (BRL), which employs a double resonant cavity (DRC) with short fiber length, paired with a heterodyne-based wavelength-locking system, to be employed as a pump-probe source for Brillouin sensing. The enhanced source is compared to traditional long-cavity pump-probe source, showing a significantly lower relative intensity noise (~-145 dB/Hz in the whole 0-800 MHz range), a narrow linewidth (10 kHz), and large tunability features, resulting in an effective pump-probe source in BOTDA systems, with an excellent pump-probe frequency stability (~200 Hz), which is uncommon for fiber lasers. The enhanced source showed an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of about 22 dB with respect to standard BRL schemes, resulting in an improved temperature/strain resolution in BOTDA applications up to 5.5 dB, with respect to previous high-noise BRL designs.