FBG Sensor de Temperatura

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In-fibre Bragg grating sensors
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1997 Meas. Sci. Technol. 8 355
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Meas. Sci. Technol. 8 (1997) 355–375. Printed in the UK PII: S0957-0233(97)72999-0
REVIEW ARTICLE
In-fibre Bragg grating sensors

Yun-Jiang Rao
Applied Optics Group, Physics Department, University of Kent at Canterbury,
Kent CT2 7NR, UK
Received 12 August 1996, in final form 22 October 1996, accepted for publication
21 November 1996
Abstract. In-fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are one of the most exciting
developments in the field of optical fibre sensors in recent years. Compared with
conventional fibre-optic sensors, FBG sensors have a number of distinguishing
advantages. Significant progress has been made in applications to strain and
temperature measurements. FBG sensors prove to be one of the most promising
candidates for fibre-optic smart structures. This article presents a comprehensive
and systematic overview of FBG sensor technology regarding many aspects
including sensing principles, properties, fabrication, interrogation and multiplexing
of FBG sensors. It is anticipated that FBG sensor systems will be commercialized
and widely applied in practice in the near future due to the maturity of economical
production of FBGs and the availability of cost effective interrogation and
multiplexing techniques.
Yun-Jiang Rao was born in the interference pattern produced by oppositely propagat-
Yunnan, China. He received ing modes of argon-ion laser radiation was first reported
his MEng and PhD degrees in 1978 (Hill et al 1978). However, pioneering work at
in Optoelectronics at the Uni- the United Technology Research Centre, which is regarded
versity of Chongqing, China,
in 1986 and 1990. In 1988 he as a milestone for in-fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors,
was employed as a lecturer at was published eleven years later (Meltz et al 1989). This
the University of Chongqing, side-writing technique creates a Bragg grating directly in
where he led a research the fibre core using a holographic interferometer illumi-
team to develop the first nated with a coherent ultraviolet source. Versatility in the
fully automatic single-mode
fibre arc-fusion splicing ma-
fabrication of FBGs has been gained from the fact that
chine in China. From 1991 the Bragg wavelength is independent of the writing laser
to 1992 he worked on all- used. Subsequent to this initial work interest in FBGs has
fibre optically-addressed sil- increased considerably in recent years. There are two prob-
icon microresonator sensors able main reasons for this: (1) the FBG has become a key
as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of
passive device for applications in optical fibre telecommu-
Strathclyde in Scotland. In 1992 he joined the Department
of Physics at the University of Kent at Canterbury as a nications (Mizrahi 1993), including wavelength-division-
Research Fellow, where he has been working on fibre-optic multiplexing, fibre laser and amplifier pump reflectors (Ball
low coherence interferometry, development of fibre-optic and Morey 1992, Farries et al 1992), gain flattening devices
pressure and temperature sensors, advanced fibre-optic (Kashyap et al 1993), and dispersion compensation ele-
sensor multiplexing techniques and in-fibre Bragg grating ments (Ouellette 1991, Williams et al 1994); (2) it has been
sensors. He has developed a universal fibre-optic point
sensor system for quasi-static absolute measurements of
demonstrated that FBGs have great potential for a wide
multiparameters based on low-coherence interrogation. His range of sensing applications where quasi-distributed mea-
current research interests are intrinsic and extrinsic single- surements for important physical quantities, such as strain,
mode fibre-based sensors, multiplexing techniques, fibre- temperature, pressure, ultrasound, acceleration, high mag-
optic interferometry and in-fibre grating sensors. He has netic field and force, are required (Morey et al 1989, 1992,
authored or co-authored over 30 journal and 40 conference
Xu et al 1993b, Foote et al 1996, Kersey and Marrone
papers.
1994, Rao et al 1996f, Webb et al 1996, Theriault et al
1996, Bjerkan et al 1996).
Compared with other implementations of fibre-optic
1. Introduction sensors, FBG sensors have a number of distinguishing
advantages. (1) They can give an absolute measurement
The formation of photogenerated gratings in germanosil- that is insensitive to fluctuations in the irradiance of
icate optical fibre by sustained exposure of the core to the illuminating source, as the information is usually
0957-0233/97/040355+21$19.50 c 1997 IOP Publishing Ltd 355

Yun-Jiang Rao
obtained by detecting the wavelength shift induced by Table 1. Comparison of fibre-optic strain sensors.
the measurand. (2) They can be directly written
into the fibre without changing the fibre diameter, FBG FP TM PM
making them compatible with a wide range of situations Linear response yes yes (1)
yes (1)
yes(1)
where small diameter probes are essential, such as Absolute measurement yes yes(2) yes(2) yes(2)
in advanced composite materials for strain mapping, Range to resolution high high low low
or the human body for temperature profiling. (3) Sensor gauge length short short long long
They can be mass produced at low cost, making them Mechanical strength high low(3) high high
potentially competitive with conventional electrical sensors Multiplexing yes yes(4) yes(4) yes(4)
Mass production yes yes(5) yes(5) yes(5)
(Askins et al 1994). (4) They can be multiplexed Potential cost low low(6) low(6) low(6)
using similar techniques that have been applied for use
with fibre-optic sensors, including wavelength-division- FP: Fabry–Pérot interferometric sensors (Kersey et al
multiplexing (WDM), spatial-division-multiplexing (SDM), 1983, Lee et al 1992, Kist et al 1984, Claus et al 1993).
time-division-multiplexing (TDM), and their combinations TW: two-mode fibre-optic sensors (Blake et al 1987, Lu
(Kersey 1993, Rao and Jackson 1996a), making quasi- and Blaha 1992).
distributed sensing feasible in practice. One of the most PM: polarimetric fibre-optic sensors (Varnham et al 1983,
important applications of FBG sensors that has been Bock and Wolinski 1991).
(1)
demonstrated to date is for the so-called ‘fibre-optic smart Requires quadrature signal demodulation and it is
structures’, where FBGs are embedded into the structure to difficult to achieve high stability in practice.
(2)
monitor its strain distribution (Udd 1995). Fibre-optic smart Requires suitable signal processing, such as
low-coherence interferometry (Rao and Jackson 1996c).
structure technology could in the future lead to structures
(3)
that are self-monitoring and even self-scheduling of their Except for in-line fibre etalon strain sensors (Sirkis et al
1993).
maintenance and repair by the marriage of fibre-optic sensor (4)
technology and artificial intelligence with material science Difficult if the number of sensors is large, unless
spatial-division-multiplexing is used.
and structural engineering. In order to see the significance (5)
Requires some handling work either for cavity
of FBG sensors, a comparison between FBG sensors and
construction or for lead-in/lead-out fibre splicing, except
other fibre-optic strain sensors is given in table 1. It can for intrinsic Fabry–Pérot sensors made from two FBGs
be seen that FBG sensors have more advantages than other reported recently (Morey et al 1991).
fibre-optic strain sensors, making them ideal for fibre-optic (6)
Good skills for fibre splicing or sensor assembly are
smart structures. However, temperature compensation of needed.
the strain error caused by thermal fluctuation is essential
for practical applications and this issue will be discussed
later.
The aim of this article is to give a comprehensive
and systematic overview of FBG sensor technology in six
sections. Following the introduction, the sensing principles
and properties of FBG sensors are provided in section 2.
In section 3, various fabrication techniques for FBGs are
outlined which make the low-cost mass production of FBGs
feasible. Section 4 deals with a range of interrogation
techniques for FBG sensors, which can achieve high-
resolution wavelength-shift detection. A wide variety of Figure 1. Schematic diagram of in-fibre Bragg grating.
multiplexing techniques that have been applied to FBG
sensors are discussed in section 5. This article concludes
in section 6 with a summary and discussion of likely future can approach ∼100%. When the FBG is illuminated by
developments in FBG sensor technology. a broadband light source, a set of beams reflected from
a set of partially reflecting planes formed by the periodic
core index modulation interfere with each other. The
2. Principles and properties of FBG sensors interference is destructive unless each beam is in phase with
all the others. According to Bragg’s law which gives this
2.1. Optical theory of in-fibre Bragg gratings
condition, only one wavelength, i.e. the Bragg wavelength
An FBG is written into a segment of Ge-doped single- λB , is selected, which is given by
mode fibre in which a periodic modulation of the core
λB = 2n3 (1)
refractive index is formed by exposure to a spatial pattern
of ultraviolet light in the region of 244–248 nm, as where n is the effective core index of refraction and 3 the
shown in figure 1. This fabrication process is based on period of the index modulation.
the photorefractive effect in the germania oxygen-vacancy The reflectivity at the Bragg wavelength can be
defect band, which was observed in Ge-doped optical fibres estimated using the equation (Lam and Garside 1981)
by Hill et al (1978). The lengths of FBGs are normally
within the region of 1–20 mm and grating reflectivities R = tanh2 (2)
356
In-fibre grating sensors
where
= πn(L/λB )(1n/n)η(V ). (3)
The factor η(V ) ' 1 − 1/V 2 , V ≥ 2.4 is the fraction of the
integrated fundamental mode intensity contained in the core
(V is the normalized frequency of the fibre). It is seen that
R is directly proportional to the grating length L and the
index perturbation (1n/n) which is normally determined
by the exposure power and time of the UV radiation for a
specified fibre.
The full width half maximum (FWHM) bandwidth, 1λ,
of a grating is approximately given by (Russell et al 1993)
s
2
1n 2 1 Figure 2. Linearly chirped FBG sensor.
1λ = λB s + (4)
2n N
where s ∼ 1 for strong gratings (near 100% reflection) and and force, equations (5) and (6) are still applicable as these
s ∼ 0.5 for weak gratings, and N is the number of grating measurands are converted from strain.
planes. Because the change in the index is small, the main Linearly chirped FBGs have been demonstrated as
contribution to the linewidth change is attributed to the dispersion compensation elements for high-speed optical
change in the modulation depth of the index perturbation. fibre communication systems (Ouellette 1991, Williams
Unlike conventional fibre-optic interferometric sensors et al 1994). These devices act as a wavelength bandpass
illuminated by highly coherent lasers, FBG sensors filter in which the pitch of the grating is varied along the
generally require a broadband light source and a high- position of the grating length and the chirped FBG reflects a
resolution wavelength-shift detection system, which will large number of wavelengths, i.e. optical frequencies, from
be discussed later. From the light source point of view, different positions of the grating, as shown in figure 2. The
a wide wavelength bandwidth and high optical power is principle of using this chirped device for strain sensing is
normally required to achieve a large range to resolution for based on the effective change in reflection point, δb, which
the wavelength shift induced by the measurand. Most of is given by (Kersey and Davis 1994)
the sources that have been used for FBG sensors are similar
λ
to those used for fibre-optic gyroscopes and low-coherence δb = − Bζ 1ε (7)
interferometric sensors (Lefevre 1993, Jackson 1994). 1λC
They include edge-emitting light emitting diodes (ELEDs), where ζ is a constant determined by the photoelastic
superluminescent diodes (SLDs), superflourescent fibre properties of the fibre and B is the grating length. λ is
sources (SFSs) and tuneable fibre lasers (TFLs). Table 2 a fixed source wavelength and 1λC = λB1 − λB2 with
gives a comparison of these sources. λB1 < λB2 (see figure 2). For comparison, the optical
length change for a length of fibre B is given by
2.2. Sensing principles
δl = Bζ 1ε. (8)
FBG sensors have been reported for measurements of strain,
temperature, pressure, dynamic magnetic field, etc. The The ratio of equations (7) and (8) is thus expressed in the
FBG central wavelength will vary with the change of these form
δb λ
parameters experienced by the fibre and the corresponding =− . (9)
δl 1λC
wavelength shifts are as follows.
It can be seen that because λ δλC , δb δl, hence
the chirped FBG gives a very large strain transduction
2.2.1. Strain. The wavelength shift, 1λBS , for an applied amplification factor. From the high-sensitivity point of
longitudinal strain 1ε is given by view, linearly chirped FBGs have potential advantages
for dynamic strain measurement. Another potential use
1λBS = λB (1 − ρα )1ε (5)
of chirped FBGs is for distributed strain measurement by
where ρα is the photoelastic coefficient of the fibre, given sequentially interrogating short sections along the grating
by with low-coherence interferometry (Volanthen et al 1996).
n2
ρα = [ρ12 − ν(ρ11 − ρ12 )] (6)
2
2.2.2. Temperature. For a temperature change of 1T ,
where ρ11 and ρ12 are the components of the fibre-optic
the corresponding wavelength shift 1λBT is given by
strain tensor and ν is Poisson’s ratio. For the silica
fibre, the wavelength–strain sensitivities of 800 nm and 1λBT = λB (1 + ξ )1T (10)
1.55 µm FBGs have been measured as ∼ 0.64 pm µε−1 and
∼ 1.15 pm µε −1 respectively (Morey et al 1989, Rao et al where ξ is the fibre thermo-optic coefficient. For the silica
1995b). For the measurement of acceleration, ultrasound fibre, the wavelength–temperature sensitivities of 800 nm
357
Yun-Jiang Rao
Table 2. Comparison of light sources for FBG sensors.
ELEDs SLDs SFSs TFLs

∗
Optical power 1–10 µW 0.1–2 mW 1–10 mW 0.1–10 mW
FWHM bandwidth 40–100 nm 15–30 nm 20–40 nm 1–10 nm∗∗
Device cost low medium high high
∗
Optical power coupled into single-mode fibre.
∗∗
Tuneable wavelength range.
Table 3. Strain and temperature sensitivities of FBG For a Ge-doped FBG at 1.55 µm 1λBP /1P was measured
sensors with different wavelengths.
as −3 × 10−3 nm MPa−1 over a pressure range of 70
Wavelength Strain sensitivity Temperature sensitivity MPa (Xu et al 1993b). The pressure sensitivity has been
(µm) (pm µε−1 ) (pm ◦ C−1 ) enhanced by a factor of four by mounting the FBG in a
hollow glass bubble to achieve mechanical amplification
0.83 ∼0.64 ∼6.8
1.3 ∼1 ∼10 (Xu et al 1996).
1.55 ∼1.2 ∼13
2.2.4. Dynamic magnetic field. FBGs can also be used

for dynamic magnetic field detection with the Faraday
and 1.55 µm FBGs have been measured with values of effect to induce a slight change in the index of the fibre
∼6.8 pm ◦ C−1 and ∼13 pm ◦ C−1 respectively (Morey et experienced by left- and right-circularly polarized light in
al 1989, Rao et al 1995b). Table 3 gives a summary an FBG (Kersey and Marrone 1994). In the presence
of the wavelength–strain and wavelength–temperature
of a longitudinal magnetic field applied to the FBG, the
sensitivities for FBGs with different wavelengths (Morey
index is changed for the two circular polarizations and in
et al 1989, Xu et al 1994b and Rao et al 1995b).
consequence two Bragg wavelengths are obtained, as shown
in figure 3, i.e.
2.2.3. Pressure. For a pressure change of 1P , the
λB+ = 2n+ 3 (15a)
corresponding wavelength shift 1λBP is given by

1λBP 1(n3) 1 ∂3 1 ∂n λB− = 2n− 3 (15b)
= = + 1P . (11)
λB n3 3 ∂P n ∂P
where the subscripts + and − represent the index and Bragg
In the weakly guided single-mode region, the contribution wavelength for right- and left-circularly polarized light at
to the fractional change in optical propagation delay arising the FBG. For the silica fibre, the sensitivity of this effect is
from a small fractional change in fibre diameter due to weak as it is determined by the inherent Verdet constant of
the applied pressure is negligible when compared with the the silica which is only ∼8×10−1 rad T−1 m−1 at ∼1.3 µm
change in refractive index and physical length. The changes wavelength. The change in index is given by
in physical length and refractive index are given by (Hocker
1979, Morey et al 1992) Vd H λ
n + − n− = (16)
2π
1L (1 − 2ν)P
=− (12a)
L E where Vd and λ are the Verdet constant and the
working wavelength and H is the applied magnetic field.
1n n2 P
= (1 − 2ν)(2ρ12 + ρ11 ) (12b) Consequently, the resulting wavelength shift is very small
n 2E and has been detected with the interferometric interrogation
where E is Young’s modulus of the fibre. As a result scheme which can achieve a very high sensitivity (Kersey
of 1L/L = 13/3 the normalized pitch-pressure and the and Marrone 1994). Based on this work, dynamic
index-pressure coefficients are given by measurement of large values of current and voltage would
1 ∂3 (1 − 2ν) be possible.
=− (13a)
3 ∂P E
1 ∂n n2 2.2.5. Simultaneous strain and temperature measure-
= (1 − 2ν)(2ρ12 + ρ11 ). (13b) ment. For quasi-static and static strain measurements,
n ∂P 2E
By substituting equations (13a) and (13b) into (11), we large temperature variations are common in practical ap-
obtain the wavelength–pressure sensitivity, given by plications. Hence a temperature compensation for the ef-
fect of ambient temperature fluctuation is required (Farahi

(1 − 2ν) n2 et al 1990). A range of techniques have been proposed
1λBP = λB − + (1 − 2ν)(2ρ12 + ρ11 ) 1P
E 2E to achieve this goal by measuring strain and temperature
(14) simultaneously.
358
where 1 and 2 represent the two wavelengths. The elements

of the K matrix can be determined experimentally by
separately measuring the wavelength shifts with strain and
temperature. As long as K is known 1ε and 1T can be
determined easily. This concept has been demonstrated
using two FBGs with central wavelengths of 0.85 µm and
1.3 µm.
2.2.5.3. Harmonics method. Another way of obtaining

Figure 3. Splitting of the Bragg resonance due to the two sets of wavelength data is to use the first harmonics
circular birefringence induced by a magnetic field. of an FBG. For an FBG with high reflectivity, the index
perturbation may be not a perfect sinusoidal profile due
2.2.5.1. Reference FBG method. On a single to possible overexposure, resulting in the generation of
measurement of the Bragg wavelength shift it is harmonics. The wavelength of the first harmonic is just
impossible to separate the effects of changes in strain twice that of the central wavelength of the FBG. An
and temperature. Therefore a reference is required for experiment has been carried out to verify this idea by using
temperature measurement. The most straightforward way the first harmonics (0.78 µm) of a 1.56 µm FBG (Kalli et
is to use a separated, strain-free FBG as the temperature al 1994).
sensor to measure the temperature of the strain sensor For both schemes mentioned above, two sets of
directly (Morey et al 1992, Xu et al 1994a). This reference independent detection systems for the two wavelengths
FBG is located in the same thermal environment as the are required to obtain the corresponding wavelength shifts.
strain sensor. The strain error caused by the temperature This makes the whole measurement system complicated
variation can be compensated to first order by subtracting and potentially expensive. On the other hand, the
the wavelength shift induced by temperature variation from incompatibility of the two fibres operating at different
the total wavelength shift obtained with the strain sensor. wavelength would be a problem for multiplexing of FBGs
It has been found that a chirped FBG in a tapered optical for quasi-distributed measurements.
fibre can be temperature independent (Xu et al 1995). The
taper profile is designed such that the FBG is linearly
chirped when tension is applied, creating a strain gradient 2.2.5.4. Superimposed FBG and polarization-rocking
along the FBG. By measuring the effective bandwidth filter method. The all-fibre polarization-rocking filter
variation rather than the Bragg wavelength change, the was first demonstrated for polarization mode conversion
reflected intensity signal is insensitive to temperature. This in optical fibre telecommunication (Stolen et al 1984).
special type of FBG sensor is attractive as no temperature An external point-to-point writing technique has been
compensation is required, but one problem is that at the used to fabricate rocking filters in a photosensitive D-
tapered region of the fibre mechanical strength becomes type polarization-maintaining fibre (Hill et al 1991).
much weaker and hence the fibre is easy to break. Based on this fabrication technique, a compact Mach–
Furthermore, investigation might be needed to assess the Zehnder fibre interferometer was formed by arranging two
measurement accuracy as any intensity fluctuation along rocking filters on the same piece of fibre at a certain
the lead fibre would cause error. separation; this system has been used for temperature
measurement (Kanellopoulos et al 1993). The temperature-
2.2.5.2. Dual-wavelength superimposed FBGs method. induced resonant wavelength shift is roughly two orders
This method is based on the use of two sets of wavelength- of magnitude greater than that of normal FBGs. As the
shift data obtained from two superimposed FBGs written at wavelength-shift coefficients in temperature and strain for
the same location in the fibre (Xu et al 1994b). Assuming an FBG and a rocking filter are different, a matrix similar to
that the wavelength shifts in strain and temperature are K in equation (18) can be obtained to separate temperature
linear, the Bragg wavelength-shift, 1λB , in response to a and strain. By superimposing an FBG and a Mach–Zehnder
strain change, 1ε, and a temperature change, 1T , is given interferometer formed by two rocking filters, this method
by has been demonstrated recently (Kanellopoulos et al 1995).
1λB = Kε 1ε + KT 1T (17) This scheme avoids the use of two wavelengths, but
there are several constraints. (1) The physical length of
where Kε , KT are the strain and temperature sensitivities of
the rocking filter is quite large compared with the FBG,
the FBG respectively. Equation (17) assumes that the strain
hence limiting its application range. (2) The bandwidth
and temperature are essentially independent, which has
been shown to apply well for small perturbations (Morey of the rocking filter reported is much larger than that of
et al 1989). Hence, for dual-wavelength superimposed the FBG, restricting the measurement accuracy and the
FBGs, the strain and temperature can be obtained number of sensors which can be multiplexed with WDM for
simultaneously using the following matrix quasi-distributed measurement. (3) The use of polarization-
maintaining fibre and polarisation-related devices would
1λB1 Kε1 KT 1 1ε increase the cost and difficulty of multiplexing, especially
= (18)
1λB2 Kε2 KT 2 1T when the number of sensors is large.
359
Yun-Jiang Rao
Table 4. Physical properties of normal in-fibre Bragg gratings.
Ultimate strength (strain capability) >200 kpsi (2%)+ (∼1379 kPa)

Failure time >1 million cycles++
Thermal stability <3000 ◦ C∗
Response time <1 µs∗∗
+
This strength reduction is caused by stripping, grating exposure
and polyimide recoating when compared with a high-quality fibre with
a strength of 800 kpsi.
++
Obtained by laboratory simulation tests.
∗
Permanent changes begin to occur in the grating reflectivity at this
temperature.
∗∗
This is mainly limited by the acoustic transit time across the grating
length.
2.2.5.5. Combined FBG and long-period grating Table 5. Optical properties of normal in-fibre Bragg
gratings.
method. Long-period fibre gratings were initially devel-
oped for optical fibre communications systems as band- Spectral linewidth 0.1–0.2 nm∗
rejection filters (Vengsarkar et al 1996). The basic differ- Reflectivity 0–100%
ence between a long-period grating and a Bragg grating is Excess loss −30 dB
that the periodicity of the long-period grating is typically
∗
several hundred times greater than that of the Bragg grat- The spectral linewidth is, to a
large degree, dependent on the
ing. This is because in order to couple from a forward grating length via an inverse
propagating fundamental guided mode to forward propaga- relationship.
tion cladding modes, the phase matching vector is neces-
sarily short, resulting in a long periodicity. During the
strain and temperature property tests, it was discovered
that long-period gratings have quite different strain- and diameters are not the same (James et al 1996). By
temperature-wavelength response coefficients when com- fusion-splicing two FBGs with dual-diameters, two sets of
pared with Bragg gratings (Bhatia and Vengsarkar 1996). relative wavelength-shift data are obtained for separating
Therefore, simultaneous strain/temperature measurement strain and temperature. The Bragg wavelengths of the
could be achieved if the strain- and temperature-wavelength two FBGs may differ by a few nanometres, allowing them
response coefficients of both the long-period grating and the to be measured independently with WDM. This scheme
Bragg grating were known accurately. Preliminary results improves the WDM capacity over methods 2.2.5.4 and
have been obtained to verify this idea (Patrick et al 1996). 2.2.5.5 mentioned above, but further investigation work is
Unlike the dual-wavelength superimposed FBGs method, required to address the potential problems of low splice
this approach does not need two sets of independent detec- strength and high splice loss.
tion systems for detecting changes of two widely separated
wavelengths.
2.2.5.7. Combined FBG and in-line fibre etalon sensor
There are several concerns about this approach: (1)
method. It has been demonstrated that an in-line fibre
the bandwidth of the long-period grating is relatively large,
which would limit measurement accuracy and the number etalon sensor, formed by splicing a short segment of
of sensors which can be used with WDM; (2) the physical silica hollow-core fibre to two sections of a single-mode
length (typically a few centimetres) of the long-period fibre, has low-temperature sensitivity and high mechanical
grating is much longer than that of the FBG, hence it may be strength, making such a type of sensor suitable for fibre-
inapplicable for some cases where the separation between optic smart structure applications (Sirkis et al 1993). With
two adjacent sensors, i.e. spatial resolution, is required to the combination of an FBG sensor and an in-line fibre etalon
be small; (3) it may be difficult to use in an embedded interferometric sensor, simultaneous strain and temperature
version for smart structure applications, as the long-period measurement has been achieved due to their different strain
grating may experience a significant non-uniform strain and temperature response coefficients (Singh and Sirkis
field along a grating length of a few centimetres; (4) as the 1996). As the return signals from cascaded FBG and etalon
long-period grating is extremely sensitive to bends in the sensors mix together in spectral domain, it is impossible to
fibre, separation of the wavelength changes caused by the separate them completely by using only WDM, resulting in
bend and the longitudinal strain forms as a new problem. relatively high crosstalk.
2.2.5.6. Dual-diameter FBGs method. It has been found 2.3. Properties of FBGs
that the strain responses to relative wavelength shifts and
the temperature responses to the weighted wavelength- General properties of normal FBGs are summarized in
shift differences of two FBGs with different cladding tables 4 and 5 (Dunphy et al 1995).
360
3. Fabrication techniques by tuning the angle ϕ between the writing beam and the
normal to the axis of the fibre (see figure 4), owing to the
Advanced fabrication techniques are essential for obtaining relationship between ϕ and 3 given by
high quality and low cost in FBG sensor technology. An
ideal FBG fabrication technique should have the following 3 = λU V /ϕ (19)
features.
where λU V is the wavelength of the UV light. Equation
(1) Flexibility: reflectivities and central wavelengths of (19) shows that an alternative way to vary 3 is to tune the
FBGs produced should be selectable for quasi-distributed wavelength of the UV source.
measurement. A modified version based on the wavefront splitting
(2) Economical mass production capability: low-cost rather than the amplitude splitting in the holographic
FBGs would be available if they could be mass produced method has also been reported (Kashyap et al 1990). This
at a high speed. scheme uses a Lloyd interferometer with total internal
(3) Good physical and optical qualities: the mechanical reflection in a prism replacing the Lloyd mirror. FBGs at
strength of an FBG produced should not be degraded 1.55 µm wavelength region were manufactured using this
significantly after fabrication when compared with the approach with a frequency-doubled 488 nm argon-ion laser.
strength of a good-quality fibre. A narrow spectral Ultrafast fabrication of FBGs has been demonstrated with
linewidth and a low excess loss are normally required to a single 20 ns pulse produced by a pulsed excimer laser
achieve high-resolution measurement. (Askins et al 1992, Archambault et al 1993). Furthermore,
(4) Good repeatability: repeatabilities of both the in-line production during the fibre drawing process has also
central wavelength and the reflectivity of an FBG should been reported with the two-beam interferometer method
be good enough in order to make FBGs standard devices illuminated by a pulsed laser, which shows that mass-
under the condition of mass production and interchangeable production of FBGs is feasible in practice (Askins et al
without calibration. 1994).
Fabrication techniques have been subjects of much
research interest owing to the driving force arising 3.1.2. Source-tuneable interferometer method. A new
from communications and sensing applications. A method called the source-tuneable interferometer method
number of schemes have been demonstrated to match has been demonstrated very recently which is able to
the requirements mentioned above, which has led to overcome some disadvantages of the holographic method
successful commercialization of the FBG fabrication very (Dockney et al 1996). A schematic of this method
recently. Basically, there are two methods to fabricate is shown in figure 5. Unlike the holographic method
FBGs including the two-beam interferometer method and mentioned above, the central wavelength of the FBG can
the phase-mask method. be selected by tuning the wavelength of the UV source
rather than adjusting the angles of mirrors precisely whilst
the wavelength range of FBGs can be extended by varying
3.1. Two-beam interferometer technique
the angles of the two mirrors. The obtainable wavelength
Initially FBGs were made with Ge-doped fibres (Hill et range of FBGs, which is determined by the mirror angle,
al 1978). Recently, the so-called hydrogen ‘loading’ θm , in the interferometer based on a phase-mask and two
technique has been demonstrated (Lemaire et al 1993). mirrors, is given by
This technique can sensitize fibres by using a low-
nλU V
temperature hydrogen treatment combined with high λB = (20)
pressure, which diffuses H2 molecules into fibre. When sin(θp + 2θm )
the treated fibre is exposed to UV light, H2 is dissolved to
where θm = sin−1 (λU V /3p ) and 3p is the phase-mask
react in the glass, typically at Ge sites, resulting in large
period. Therefore, this approach can achieve precision FBG
permanent index changes in the fibre core. In particular,
writing with a wide wavelength range, if the phase-mask
this method also allows FBGs to be written into standard
based interferometer is well stabilized during fabrication
communication fibres whose cores are not Ge-doped.
procedures. The use of a tuneable UV laser with a large
coherence length may increase the system cost greatly.
3.1.1. Holographic method. The first practical fabrica-
tion method reported uses a holographic interferometer to
3.2. Phase-mask technique
produce an interference pattern within the fibre core, normal
to the fibre axis, as shown in figure 4 (Meltz et al 1989). 3.2.1. Basic principle. The phase-mask method has been
The transmission spectrum of the FBG is monitored in real reported as an improved method for the fabrication of
time with a monochromator located at the output end of FBGs (Hill et al 1993, Anderson et al 1993). A phase-
the fibre. A tuneable excimer-pumped dye laser, operated mask is a diffractive element that can be used to form
at a wavelength in the range of 486–500 nm, is used with an interference pattern laterally, i.e. Bragg grating pitch,
a frequency-doubling crystal to provide a UV source that with the light beams which are spatially phase modulated
lies in the 244 nm band and has an adequate coherence and diffracted by the phase-mask, as shown in figure 6.
length. By varying 3, a group of FBGs with different λB This interference pattern is then used to photoimprint a
can be obtained—this method is flexible. This is achieved refractive index modulation in the photosensitive fibre
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Yun-Jiang Rao
Figure 4. Schematic diagram of the two-beam interferometer method.
Figure 6. Schematic diagram of the phase-mask writing

method.
Figure 5. Schematic of the wavelength-tuneable

interferometer method.
immediately behind the phase-mask in proximity and

parallel. Compared with the two-beam interferometer
method, the phase-mask method has several advantages:
(1) unlike the two-beam interferometer method, the Bragg
wavelength of an FBG is determined by the pitch of the
phase-mask and is independent of the wavelength of the UV
laser; (2) as phase-masks are fabricated under a computer-
controlled photolithographic imprinting process through an Figure 7. Schematic of the modified phase-mask method
original phase-mask, the phase-mask method offers a high with a lens.
probability of mass production with good repeatability at
low cost; (3) this single-beam writing method improves termed demagnification factor which is given by
the mechanical stability of the FBG writing apparatus
considerably and hence it is easy to use in practice; (4) the f −p−q
M= (21)
requirement for the coherence of the UV laser is reduced f −p
and hence low spatial and temporal coherence lasers can be
where p and q are the distances between the lens and the
used to replace highly coherent, very expensive UV lasers
mask and between the mask and the fibre respectively. It
that are required by the two-beam interferometer method.
is seen that the grating pitch can be tuned by varying p
or/and q. The tuning range of this method is estimated to
be within a few tens of nanometres as q is limited by the
3.2.2. Modified phase-mask method. A modified coherence length of the UV laser.
version of this configuration has been demonstrated to tune Generally speaking, the narrower the bandwidth of an
the Bragg wavelength of the FBG with a fixed phase-mask, FBG is, the more accurately the wavelength shift induced
by using a diverging or converging wavefront incident by the measurand can be detected. The bandwidth of an
on the phase-mask (Prohaska et al 1993). The principle FBG is inversely proportional to its length, hence very long
of this technique is very simple, as shown in figure 7. gratings with a high reflectivity are required. A number
Consider a plane wavefront incident on a positive lens of of variations of the phase-mask method based on mask
focal length f , the grating pitch in the fibre is given by scanning have been reported to achieve this goal (Martin
3 = Md (d is the pitch of the phase-mask) and M is and Ouellette 1994, Rourke et al 1994, Kashyap et al
362
1994). The idea is to keep the mask and the fibre held Conventional spectrometers have a typical resolution
together in proximity and parallel, as shown in figure 6, of 0.1nm, hence they are normally used for evaluation
except that the UV light beam is scanned along the mask of the optical properties of FBGs during fabrication
and fibre assembly. The grating length can be as long as the procedures rather than for precision wavelength-shift
length of the mask itself. Fabrication of a 50 mm long FBG detection. Research on high-resolution interrogation
with a maximum reflectivity of 70% and a bandwidth as methods has been a very active topic in recent years. A
low as 0.029 nm has been demonstrated with this technique number of interrogation techniques have been reported for
(Rourke et al 1994). high-resolution wavelength-shift detection. According to
the operating principles of the devices used for wavelength-
shift detection these techniques can be classified as edge
3.2.3. Moving fibre/phase-mask scanning method. A filter, tuneable filter, interferometric scanning and dual-
novel technique called moving fibre/phase-mask scanning cavity interferometric scanning methods (Kersey 1993, Rao
method has been demonstrated to fabricate FBGs with et al 1996b), which are described in the following sections.
different wavelengths by using only one phase-mask (Cole
et al 1995). The set-up is similar to previous mask scanning 4.1. Principles of interrogation schemes
configurations (Martin and Ouellette 1994, Rourke et al
1994), but with the difference that the fibre is moved 4.1.1. Edge filter. This method is based on the use
relative to the mask while the UV beam is scanning. For of an edge filter which has a linear relationship between
uniform motions of both the mask and the fibre, the relative wavelength shifts and the output intensity changes of the
movement results in a shift of the Bragg wavelength. We filter, as shown in figure 8(a). By measuring the intensity
assume that λ0 is the unshifted Bragg wavelength, and change, the wavelength shift induced by the measurand is
vf and vsc are the velocities of the fibre and scanning obtained. The measurement range is inversely proportional
beam respectively. As the wavelength shift is given by to the detection resolution.
1λ = 2n13 + 231n, either 13 or 1n can be used to
obtain 1λ. For this mask/fibre moving method, 13 is used 4.1.2. Tuneable filter. A tuneable filter can be used to
whilst we let 1n vanish. The vanishing condition can be measure the wavelength shift of the FBG and the output
obtained from the equation for 1n which is given by is a convolution of both the spectrum of the tuneable filter
and that of the FBG, as shown in figure 8(b). When the
sin(πDvf /3vsc )
1n = (22) spectrum of the tuneable filter matches that of the FBG,
πDvf /3vsc the convolution equals one, i.e. a maximum output occurs.
By measuring this maximum point and the corresponding
where D is the writing beam diameter. It can be seen
wavelength change of the tuneable filter, the wavelength
that when vf /vsc = 3/1, 1n = 0, and 1λ = 2n13 =
shift of the FBG is obtained. The measurement resolution is
2nD1vf /vsc (here 1vf is the change of the fibre velocity).
mainly determined by the signal-to-noise ratio of the return
By changing the fibre velocity at regular intervals, a range FBG signal and both the linewidths of the tuneable filter
of FBGs with an equal Bragg wavelength separation or a and the FBG. Normally, such an approach has a relatively
chirped FBG can be obtained. This technique seems to be high resolution plus a large working range.
the most promising to date as it can meet the four criteria
for an ideal fabrication technique mentioned above.
4.1.3. Interferometric scanning. The FBG wavelength
shift induced by strain and/or temperature can be
detected with a scanned interferometer, which has been
4. Interrogation techniques demonstrated for high-resolution dynamic and quasi-static
strain measurements, termed the interferometric scanning
Precision measurement of the FBG wavelength shift method (Kersey et al 1992, 1993a). The normalized
induced by the measurand is crucial for achieving good interference signal from a scanned interferometer (SI), as
sensor performance. The general requirements for an ideal shown in figure 8(c), can be expressed as:
interrogation method are as follows.
I /I0 = 1 + B cos[18B + φ(t)] (23)
(1) High resolution with large measurement range:
typically a wavelength-shift detection resolution ranging where I0 is the intensity of the incident light and B the
from sub-picometre to a few picometres is required for visibility of the interference signal. φ(t) is the thermally
most applications; the range to resolution required is within induced phase drift in the SI. The SI acts as a wavelength
103 :1–105 :1. scanner for FBGs when the optical path of the SI is
(2) Cost effective: the cost of an interrogation modulated. The strain- or temperature-induced change in
system should be competitive with conventional optical or the reflected wavelength from a FBG produces a change in
electrical sensors. optical phase 18B :
(3) Compatible with multiplexing: an interrogation
scheme should be able to cope with multiplexing topologies 2π 1LSI 2π 1LSI
18B = − 1λB = − ξg 1Y (24)
which can make the whole sensing system cost effective. λ2B λB
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Yun-Jiang Rao
Figure 9. Principle of the dual-cavity interferometric

scanning scheme.
with the larger OPD, i.e. range 1, gives a high-resolution

measurement whilst the phase output from the cavity with
Figure 8. (a ) Principle of the edge filter method. the shorter OPD, i.e. range 2, is used for determining the
(b ) Principle of the tunable filter method. (c ) Principle of
the interferometric scanning method.
number of fringes obtained with the long cavity, as shown
in figure 9. The total absolute value of the phase change is
thus given by (18B + 2π N ) (here N is the number of the
where 1Y is the variation in strain or temperature applied interferometric fringe). The enhancement factor, M, in the
to the FBG and 1LSI is the optical path difference (OPD) unambiguous range is given by the ratio of the dual-cavity
of the SI. ξg is the normalized FBG sensitivity for strain or lengths used in the stepped interferometer, i.e.
temperature, given by:
FSRshort LSI
1 δλB M= = 0 (27)
ξg = . (25) FSRlong LSI
λB δY
where LSI and L0SI are the cavity lengths of the stepped
Hence, the phase sensitivity in response to strain or interferometer for ranges 1 and 2, i.e. the long and the short
temperature (18B /1Y ) is directly proportional to the OPD cavities. In principle M could be very large as the cavity
in the SI. By measuring 18B with the pseudo-heterodyne length of the stepped interferometer can be varied from a
processing scheme (Jackson et al 1982), the strain or few hundreds of microns to a few hundreds of millimetres
temperature change can be determined. in a well collimated interferometer, although in practice M
The operational range of the FBG is set by the free is likely to be selected in the range of 10–100.
spectral range (FSR) of the SI, which is given by:
λ2B 4.2. Interrogation systems based on the edge filter

FSR = . (26) method
1LSI
It can be seen that the operational range is inversely 4.2.1. Ratiometric detection with a bulk edge filter. A
proportional to the OPD in the SI. Therefore, there is a simple interrogation system based on a bulk linear edge
trade-off between the sensitivity and the operational range, filter has been demonstrated for strain measurement (Melle
because in this method of signal recovery the unambiguous et al 1992). A block diagram of this system is shown
measurement range is equivalent to a 2π change in the SI. in figure 10(a). In order to eliminate the influences of
The system stability for quasi-static and static measurement intensity fluctuations of the light source and the fibre link,
is limited by φ(t). By incorporating a local reference the ratio between the signal intensity, IF , and the reference
FBG and using the phase difference between the sensing intensity, IR , is used, given by
FBG and the reference FBG, the thermal drift can be
IF 1λ
compensated (Kersey et al 1993a). = A λB − λ0 + √ (28)
IR π
4.1.4. Dual-cavity interferometric scanning. A novel where A and λ0 are the gradient and the starting value of
method using two sets of interferometric fringes obtained the edge filter and λB and 1λ are the Bragg wavelength
by stepping the SI from a long cavity to another short and the linewidth of the FBG respectively. It can be seen
cavity has been proposed to enhance the unambiguous that this system has several advantages, such as low cost,
measurement range of the interferometric scanning scheme fast response, ease of use, and has been commercialized
(Rao et al 1996b). The optical phase output from the cavity by Electrophotonics Co (Canada). A resolution of a few
364
Figure 10. (a ) Block diagram of the ratiometric detection scheme. (b ) Block diagram of the WDM fibre coupler scheme.
tens of µε has been demonstrated with a measurement compact, very low power loss, and low cost, making it
range of several mε. In order to improve the optical an ideal interrogation approach for relatively high-accuracy
power and hence signal-to-noise ratio, a tuneable fibre measurement (typically ∼1% of full scale). Multiplexing
laser based on two FBGs used as reflectors (Ball and of FBG sensors with both the schemes mentioned above
Morey 1992) has been incorporated into this system and needs to be addressed in the future.
a strain resolution of 5 µε with a frequency response
of 13 kHz has been demonstrated (Melle et al 1993). 4.3. Interrogation systems based on the tuneable filter
Furthermore, a multi-channel system based on this FBG- method
based fibre laser sensor approach has been developed for
bridge monitoring (Measures et al 1994). Although the 4.3.1. Tuneable FBG-based filters. The wavelength
system cost is high at the current stage, in the future it shift of the sensing FBG can be detected with a tuneable
could be possible to integrate the wavelength-shift detection FBG-based filter which is formed by wrapping a receiving
system in an optoelectronic chip, which would result in a FBG, with the same properties as the sensing FBG, onto
very inexpensive system if the sensor number is sufficient. a cylindrical piezoelectric element (PZ) or other fibre
stretchers (Jackson et al 1993). When a voltage is applied
to the PZ, the receiving FBG is stretched by the PZ and
4.2.2. Ratiometric detection with a WDM fibre coupler. hence the Bragg wavelength of the receiving FBG is tuned
One disadvantage of the above scheme is that due to due to the applied strain. The wavelength shift of the
the use of a bulk filter element the alignment of the sensing FBG is traced automatically by using a closed
filter is crucial to keep measurement accuracy. An all- loop control system, as shown in figure 11. The error
fibre approach has been demonstrated to overcome this signal output from this control loop gives a voltage change
problem. This improved system exploits a wavelength- corresponding to the wavelength change of the receiving
division-multiplexing (WDM) fibre coupler to replace the FBG which is equal to the wavelength shift of the sensing
bulk filter (Davis and Kersey 1994). By taking the ratio FBG. The measurement range and accuracy of this method
between the difference and the sum of the two outputs, are mainly constrained by the characteristics of the PZ
P 1 and P 2, from the two arms of the WDM coupler, used. A somewhat similar system using a FBG-based fibre
as shown in figure 10(b), the drift-compensated output laser tuned with a high-accuracy PZ has been demonstrated
is obtained for the FBG wavelength-shift detection. The and a measurement accuracy of ∼0.1% over a working
features of this scheme are an all-fibre approach, very range of a few nanometres has been achieved (Ball et al
365
Yun-Jiang Rao
Figure 11. Schematic diagram of the FBG-based tunable Figure 13. Schematic of the tunable acousto-optic filter
filter scheme. scheme.
(up to a few micrometres) (Chang 1981). Therefore, this

device could be potentially very attractive from the point of
view of multiplexing a large number of FBG sensors if a
light source or a source array with a similar bandwidth
were available. A block diagram of an interrogation
scheme with such a device is shown in figure 13 (Xu
et al 1993a). The wavelength of the light transmitted by
the acousto-optic filter is a function of the RF frequency
which is generated by a RF signal generator. To lock the
mean optical wavelength of the filter to the instantaneous
Figure 12. Schematic diagram of the tunable Fabry–Pérot
filter scheme. wavelength of the sensing FBG, a feedback signal is
generated by dithering the applied RF frequency about a
nominal value and detecting the amplitude modulation of
1994). The distinguishing advantage of this scheme is that the received optical carrier. When the mean wavelength of
due to the use of a fibre laser the SNR can be improved the filter coincides with the FBG wavelength, the amplitude
considerably compared with broadband sources and hence modulation is zero. The amplitude modulation is produced
a high resolution of a few picometres has been achieved. by using a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with a low-
One of the main disadvantages of this scheme is that high- frequency square wave input plus a DC bias signal to
accuracy PZ tuners are normally expensive and have a tune the mean frequency. This system has been applied
limited working range. Another disadvantage is that the to temperature measurement and an initial temperature
measurement speed is limited by the response time of the sensitivity of −0.95 kHz ◦ C−1 has been achieved. Due
PZ and the control loop (typically <100 Hz). to the wide linewidth of the filter used (typically a few
nanometres), the measurement resolution is limited. High-
4.3.2. Tuneable Fabry–Pérot filter. Tuneable Fabry– resolution detection of <1 pm has been reported by
Pérot filters have become important for spectral noise another group using an acousto-optic tuneable filter with a
rejection for fibre-optic amplifiers used in optical fibre much smaller bandwidth (0.2 nm) and measurement range
telecommunications. One of the distinguishing features of (∼120 nm) (Dunphy et al 1993). Obviously, this device is
a tuneable Fabry–Pérot filter is that the operational range more suitable to FBG sensors, but the long-term stability
is large (typically tens of nanometres). An interrogation of this device needs to be investigated.
system using a high-finesse (∼110) fibre Fabry–Pérot filter
tuned by a PZ element has been reported, and is shown in 4.4. Interrogation systems based on the interferometric
figure 12 (Kersey et al 1993b). A resolution of ∼1 pm over scanning method
a working range of more than 40 nm has been demonstrated
An interrogation system using the interferometric scanning
for a single sensing FBG. Also, this scheme has been used
method is shown in figure 14 in which an unbalanced fibre
for WDM of multiple FBGs on a piece of fibre by scanning
Mach–Zehnder interferometer is used as the wavelength
the Fabry–Pérot filter with a triangular waveform. The
scanner for dynamic strain measurement (Kersey et al
resolution of this scheme is mainly limited by the finesse
1992). A strain resolution of ∼0.6 nε Hz−1/2 at frequencies
of the Fabry–Pérot cavity. It is very difficult in practice >100 Hz was achieved. Furthermore, a single-frequency
to make a Fabry–Pérot filter with a finesse of better than FBG fibre laser sensor (Ball et al 1993) with a similar
400 owing to very high requirements for both the optical interrogating arrangement has been demonstrated recently
coatings on the fibre endfaces and the alignment precision (Koo and Kersey 1995). A strain sensitivity of ∼5.6 ×
between the two cavity surfaces. 10−5 nε Hz−1/2 at 7 kHz was obtained with a 2.5 cm long
laser cavity and a readout interferometer with an OPD of
4.3.3. Tuneable acousto-optic filters. Compared with 100 m. Hence, the interferometric scanning scheme has
the two schemes mentioned above, an acousto-optic achieved the highest resolution among the current detection
tuneable filter has a much wider wavelength tuning range methods.
366
techniques which are suitable for conventional fibre-optic

sensors can also be applied to FBG sensors (Kersey 1995).
A number of multiplexing schemes for FBGs, including
WDM, TDM, SDM, and their combinations have been
reported recently, in which WDM plays an important role
due to the wavelength-encoding feature of FBGs.
5.1. Wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM)

One of the most straightforward techniques for FBG
elements is WDM in which the FBGs in the network
are arranged such that their operational regions do not
overlap. Several approaches based on this scheme have
been reported.
Figure 14. Schematic diagram of the interferometric
scanning scheme. 80 , initial phase difference between the 5.1.1. Parallel WDM topology. A simple method can
signal and the modulation waveform; 18B , optical phase permit virtually simultaneous interrogation of all the sensors
change induced by strain or temperature change.
by matching a receiving FBG to a corresponding sensing
FBG with a parallel topology as shown in figure 16(a)
Based on the dynamic measurement scheme, a modified (Jackson et al 1993). The operational principle for a single
version has been reported for static strain and temperature channel has been described in section 4.3.1.
measurement by incorporating a reference FBG element
into the system to compensate for thermal-induced phase 5.1.2. Series WDM topologies. Based on the parallel
drift in the scanned interferometer (Kersey and Berkoff approach, an improved scheme using a series receiving
1992, Kersey et al 1993a). A strain resolution of FBG array rather than the parallel structure has been
∼6 nε Hz−1/2 at 1 Hz and a temperature resolution of reported recently (Brady et al 1994). This series topology
0.05 ◦ C with a range of ∼60 ◦ C with good stability have
allows the optical power from the sensing FBG array to
been demonstrated.
be used much more efficiently than the parallel topology
with the additional benefit that the cost of the system
4.5. Interrogation system based on the dual-cavity can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, an optimized
interferometric scanning method approach has been demonstrated to keep power losses to a
The dual-cavity interferometric scanning method has been minimum by detecting the transmissive outputs of the series
demonstrated for temperature measurements very recently receiving FBG array directly, as shown in figure 16(b)
(Rao et al 1996b). The experimental set-up is shown in (Davis and Kersey 1995). This scheme reduces the power
figure 15(a). The reference FBG is located in a strain-free loss by a factor of four. A dynamic strain resolution of
and temperature-stabilized environment used to eliminate ∼10 nε Hz−1/2 rms for low-frequency vibrations has been
the thermal drift of the scanned interferometer. The stepped demonstrated. As the measurement accuracies for both the
interferometric wavelength scanner is a bulk Michelson parallel and series topologies are mainly determined by
interferometer shown in figure 15(b). The concept has the stretching devices that are used to tune the receiving
been verified by experiment. This technique is likely to FBG array, precision driving elements for the stretchers
prove very important when FBGs are used for static strain are critical for achieving good performance.
measurement as it would allow a working range of sub- A similar approach with a high-accuracy PZ stretcher
microstrain to tens of millistrains—this is very difficult has been demonstrated for temperature measurement (Ball
to achieve with the current single interferometer schemes. et al 1994). The concept is to interrogate sequentially
An improved version of this scheme using two cascaded the sensing FBGs by tuning the resonance wavelength
interferometers that are frequency-division-multiplexed has of a fibre laser. As the linewidth of the fibre laser is
been demonstrated for real-time strain measurement and a very narrow, a measurement accuracy of 0.1% has been
range to resolution of 4 × 104 :1 has been achieved (Rao achieved. The main problems remained are: (1) the tuning
et al 1996d). Such a range to resolution means FBG range is constrained by the failure strength of the receiving
sensors are potentially able to compete with conventional FBG which has been measured between 1% to 5%; and (2)
fibre-optic interferometric sensors (Jackson and Jones 1987) the relatively high costs of fibre lasers and precision PZ
and traditional strain gauges. devices.
5. Multiplexing techniques 5.1.3. WDM schemes with tuneable filters. Another

approach has been adopted in which a tuneable high-
In most practical applications, FBG sensors need to finesse fibre Fabry–Pérot filter is used sequentially to
be multiplexed in order to achieve quasi-distributed measure the centre wavelengths of each sensor (Kersey
measurement and potentially to compete with conventional et al 1993b). This configuration shown in figure 12
electrical or optical sensors. In principle, the multiplexing uses only one wavelength scanning device, making the
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Yun-Jiang Rao
Figure 15. (a ) Schematic of the dual-cavity interferometric scanning scheme: SLD, superluminescent diode; SIWS, stepped
Michelson interferometric wavelength scanner; PD1 and PD2; photodiodes; BPF, bandpass filter; A/D, analogue-to-digital
convertor. (b ) Schematic of the stepped Michelson wavelength scanner: BS, beam splitter; FC, fibre connector; GRIN, GRIN
lens collimator.
multiplexing system compact, reliable and easy to use in this system potentially cost effective. A resolution of
practice. A typical resolution of a few picometres over a ∼1 pm for static measurement has been achieved. One
range of ∼40 nm has been achieved. Further improvement important advantage of this arrangement is that there is
of working range seems to be possible by shortening the virtually no crosstalk between any two adjacent sensors as
Fabry–Pérot cavity as the free spectral range is determined the spatial separation between any two adjacent diffraction
by this length. spots focused on the output plane of the spectrometer
A WDM system with a tuneable acousto-optic filter (see is much larger than the size of the spots and the
figure 13) has also been reported (Geiger et al 1995, Coroy effective sensing area of the receiving devices. Also,
et al 1995). A resolution of a few picometres over a range if this WDM concept is used in combination with the
of ∼60 nm has been achieved with a high measurement spatial-division-multiplexing scheme reported previously
speed. The resolution is primarily limited by the degree (Rao et al 1995a), the multiplexing capacity of this
of the device’s temperature stability. The distinguishing system could be increased significantly because the return
feature of this electronic tracking scheme is that there is no spectra from multiple fibre links could share the same
moving part in the system, hence resulting in high reliability monochromator by arranging the input fibres vertically at
and speed. the input plane of the monochromator.
5.2. Time-division-multiplexing (TDM)

5.1.4. Crosstalk-free WDM topology. For all the
approaches mentioned above, some crosstalk between 5.2.1. Conventional TDM topology. For TDM
adjacent sensors seems to be unavoidable. A crosstalk- topology, the return pulse signals from any two adjacent
free WDM scheme combined with high-resolution drift- sensors with a specified time delay, obtained with a
compensated interferometric wavelength-shift detection fibre delay line, can be separated in time by using a
shown in figure 17 has been demonstrated using a simple, high-speed electric switch array controlled by electrically
low-cost monochromator very recently (Rao et al 1996f). delayed pulses which are tuned to match the optical delay
In operation, the monochromator is combined with a time. Combined with the interferometric wavelength-
bulk unbalanced Michelson interferometer, where the shift detection scheme, four FBG elements along a single
monochromator performs the WDM and the interferometer fibre line, separated by a 5 m long fibre delay line with
measures the wavelength shift with high resolution, making each other, have been multiplexed with a conventional
368
(a )
(b )
Figure 16. (a ) Schematic of the WDM topology based on a parallel receiving FBG array. (b ) Schematic of the WDM
topology based on series FBG filters.
Figure 17. Schematic of the experimental set-up; SLD, superluminescent diode; APD1 and APD2, avalanche photodiodes;
LPF, low-pass filter; A/D, analogue-to-digital converter.
TDM scheme (Weis et al 1994). A strain resolution of pulse duty cycle. Code-division-multiplexing can be used
∼2 nε Hz−1/2 for frequencies greater than 10 Hz has been to improve the SNR but relatively high crosstalk may occur
demonstrated. The main problem of TDM is that when the (Rao et al 1993). Improvement of codes has resulted in a
number of sensors in the network is large (typically >10), significant reduction in crosstalk (Kersey and Dandridge
poor visibility and SNR may occur due to increase in the 1992).
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Yun-Jiang Rao
Figure 18. Schematic diagram of the (TDM + WDM) scheme for FBG sensors.
5.2.2. (TDM/WDM) topology. A topology based on the Table 6. Brief summary of FBG fabrication techniques.
combination of TDM and WDM has been proposed, which
is able to address a large number of FBG sensors (Davis TBI PM MF/PMS
et al 1994). This scheme is shown in figure 18. The total Flexibility good medium (1)
good
number of sensors that can be multiplexed is the product Repeatability medium(2) good good
of the number of FBG elements in a single sensor array, UV laser coherence high low low
N , and the number of optical fibre delay lines, M. This Mass production yes yes yes
topology may be one of the most promising techniques Potential
Fabrication cost low low low
for quasi-distributed measurement. Further theoretical and
experimental investigations are for this scheme. TBI, two-beam interferometer method; PM, phase-mask
method; MF/PMS: moving fibre/phase-mask scanning
5.3. Spatial-division-multiplexing (SDM) method.
(1)
Flexibility can be improved by using a lens to demagnify
5.3.1. SDM topology. For many practical purposes the pitch of the phase-mask.
(2)
where point measurements are required, such as in It is difficult to maintain the mechanical stability of a
aerospace and security applications, FBG sensors in two-beam interferometer in practice.
a network must be operated independently, and be
interchangeable and replaceable without any substantial 5.4. 2D multiplexing topologies
recalibration in the event of damage. This requires that Series multiplexing topologies, such as WDM and TDM,
all FBG sensors in the network should have identical which are based on a single fibre link arrangement, are
characteristics, which can be achieved by using FBGs efficient in power usage. Parallel topologies, such as SDM,
produced under the same conditions. Interchangeability is allow each FBG sensor in the network to be operated
difficult to achieve if the series multiplexing topologies, independently and are interchangeable and replaceable in
such as TDM and WDM, are used. A parallel topology the event of damage. In order to combine the advantages of
based on interferometric wavelength-shift detection and a both the series and parallel topologies and hence to create
SDM scheme for low-coherence interferometric sensors an efficient 2D quasi-distributed FBG sensor network, a
(Ribeiro et al 1994), has been demonstrated for FBG combined WDM and SDM scheme has been proposed (Rao
sensors for quasi-static strain and temperature measurement et al 1996c). Furthermore, TDM has been incorporated into
(Rao et al 1995a). For a SDM system which is capable of this (SDM + WDM) scheme to enhance the multiplexing
multiplexing up to 32 FBG sensors, a strain resolution of capacity further (Rao et al 1996e). A schematic of this
∼0.36 µε Hz−1/2 over a range of 1.5 mε and a temperature (SDM + WDM + TDM) topology is shown in figure 20.
resolution of ∼0.036 ◦ C Hz−1/2 has been achieved. Both the tuneable high-finesse Fabry–Pérot filter (FPF) and
the interferometric wavelength scanner (IWS) are combined
5.3.2. (SDM/TDM) topology. A combined SDM and in tandem and are located immediately after the broadband
TDM topology with drift-compensated wavelength-shift source rather than in front of the detector to allow all the
detection has been reported recently, as shown in figure FBG elements with similar wavelengths on all the fibre
19 (Rao et al 1995b). An eight-element FBG sensor array sensing channels to be interrogated simultaneously. In
has been demonstrated based upon this topology. A range operation, the FPF is used to select specified FBG elements
to resolution of 1250:1 for quasi-static strain measurement with different centre wavelengths along a single sensing
has been achieved with a measurement bandwidth of fibre, whereas the IWS is used to achieve high-resolution
30 Hz (∼0.22 µε Hz−1/2 ). This scheme improves the wavelength-shift measurement by precisely detecting the
multiplexing capacity of the SDM system by a factor of phase change induced by the wavelength shift of the
two. FBG. An eleven-element FBG sensor system based on this
370
Figure 19. Schematic of SDM + TDM system for FBG sensors: SLD, superluminescent diode; WS, wavelength scanner;
FC1-8, fibre connectors; BP, bandpass filter; SW, switch; FBG, fibre Bragg grating; APD, avalanche photodetector.
Figure 20. Schematic of the SDM + WDM + TDM system: SLD, superluminescent diode; FPF, tunable Fabry–Pérot filter;
IWS, interferometric wavelength scanner; APD, avalanche photodetector; BP, bandpass filter; LP, low-pass filter; SW, switch.
(SDM+WDM+TDM) topology has been demonstrated for of 1 µε Hz−1/2 and may find important applications for
static strain measurement of a modern composite material strain monitoring in large structures such as roads, bridges,
specimen with several embedded FBGs, which is shown in tunnels, aircraft, etc.
the inset of figure 20. A strain resolution of ∼1 µε Hz−1/2 Another (SDM+WDM) scheme has been reported very
has been achieved and the experimental results show that recently (Davis et al 1996), which uses a multi-channel
the outputs of FBG sensors are in good agreement with optical fibre switch to select the sensor channel spatially and
that of commercial electrical strain gauges used as the a tuneable high-finesse Fabry–Pérot filter to achieve both
strain reference. This scheme is capable of multiplexing WDM and the wavelength-shift detection. A resolution of
a very large number of FBGs (>100) with a resolution a few picometres has been obtained with a sampling rate
371
Yun-Jiang Rao
Table 7. Brief summary of FBG interrogation techniques.
EF TF IS DCIS
2 3 3 4 3 4
Range to resolution 10 –10 10 –10 10 –10 104 –106
Measurement speed high high high medium(1)
Long-term stability good(2) good(2) good(3) good(3)
WDM compatibility low high high high
Potential cost low medium low low
EF: edge filter method; TF: tuneable filter method; IS:

interferometric scanning method; DCIS: dual-cavity interferometric
scanning method.
(1)
Measurement speed can be improved significantly by using two
tandem interferometers with different cavity lengths (Rao et al
1996d).
(2)
Requires good temperature stabilization of the filter.
(3)
A reference FBG is required to compensate the thermal drift of
the interferometric scanner.
Table 8. Brief summary of FBG multiplexing techniques.
TDM WDM SDM SDM/WDM

(1)
Multiplexing capacity medium good good very good
Spatial resolution low high high high
Usage of optical power good(2) good medium(3) good(3)
Interchangeability low low high medium
Potential cost low medium medium medium
TDM: time-division-multiplexing; WDM: wavelength-division-multiplexing;

SDM: spatial-division-multiplexing; SDM/WDM: spatial- and
wavelength-division-multiplexing.
(1)
In particular when combined with TDM scheme.
(2)
Poor signal-to-noise ratio may occur when the number of FBG sensors
in the network is large.
(3)
Usage of optical power can be more efficient if a fibre-optic switch is
used to select the sensor channel sequentially, but the sampling rate is
reduced.
of 2.2 s. Although this sampling rate is relatively slow FBG sensor technology has been given, which indicates
compared with the (SDM+WDM) scheme described above, that rapid and significant progress has been made in
it is adequate for many applications where measurement fabrication techniques, signal processing and multiplexing
speed is not critical, such as for civil engineering. One techniques in recent years. FBG sensors have been explored
of the features of this scheme is that only commercially for a wide variety of applications and in particular they
available devices are needed, hence making it suitable for have found important applications in strain monitoring of
practical applications. composite materials and structures, making FBG sensor
technology to be a very strong candidate for one rapidly
developing field of optical fibre sensors—namely fibre-
6. Conclusions optic smart structures. Some instruments based on the
edge filter method have been successfully commercialized.
FBG sensor technology has proven to be a powerful tool for There is no doubt that more cost effective instruments
quasi-distributed measurements of strain and temperature will be commercialized as the fabrication cost of FBG
and has found a number of applications in practice, such sensors will reduce considerably in the near future. More
as cure monitoring of composite materials (Dunphy et al researchers and engineers have become involved in this
1991), strain mapping of advanced composite materials area and research on FBG sensors will remain very
(Simonsen et al 1992, Friebele et al 1994, Rao et al 1996c, active. In order to provide general information on FBG
Foote et al 1996), bridge strain monitoring (Measures et al sensor technology, tables 6–8 give a brief summary of the
1994), measurement of high-voltage transformer winding fabrication techniques, the interrogation techniques and the
temperatures (Hammon and Stokes 1996), high-resolution multiplexing techniques which have been discussed above
temperature profiling for medical applications (Rao et al respectively.
1996g), and high-g acceleration measurement (Theriault Finally, there may be several key topics that need to be
et al 1996). In this article, a systematic overview of specifically addressed in the future.
372
(1) Simultaneous measurement of strain and tempera- Asseh A, Sandgren S, Ahlfeldt H, Sahlgren B, Stubbe R and
ture for temperature compensation of embedded FBG strain Edwall G N 1996 Evanescent refractive index sensor
sensors is still an active research project which may con- utilizing a narrow fibre Bragg grating and a tunable DFB
laser Proc. SPIE 2836 paper 10
tinue in a long term as there are few accurate and practical Ball G A and Morey W W 1992 Continuously tunable
ways to achieve this goal, particularly in a multiplexed sen- single-mode fibre laser Opt. Lett. 17 420–2
sor system. Ball G A, Morey W W and Cheo P K 1994 Fibre laser
(2) Distributed strain measurement with high spatial source/analyzer for Bragg grating sensor array interrogation
J. Lightwave Technol. 12 700–3
resolution exploiting low-coherence interferometry could Ball G A, Morey W W and Glen W H 1993 Standing wave
become an important technique for strain mapping of small monomode erbium fibre laser IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 5
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Dockney M L, James S W and Tatam R P 1996 Fibre Bragg
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In-fibre Bragg grating sensors

1997 Meas. Sci. Technol. 8 355

Please note that terms and conditions apply.

In-fibre Bragg grating sensors

0957-0233/97/040355+21$19.50 c 1997 IOP Publishing Ltd 355

Table 2. Comparison of light sources for FBG sensors.

ELEDs SLDs SFSs TFLs

2.2.4. Dynamic magnetic field. FBGs can also be used

where 1 and 2 represent the two wavelengths. The elements

2.2.5.3. Harmonics method. Another way of obtaining

Table 4. Physical properties of normal in-fibre Bragg gratings.

Ultimate strength (strain capability) >200 kpsi (2%)+ (∼1379 kPa)

Figure 4. Schematic diagram of the two-beam interferometer method.

Figure 6. Schematic diagram of the phase-mask writing

Figure 5. Schematic of the wavelength-tuneable

immediately behind the phase-mask in proximity and

Figure 9. Principle of the dual-cavity interferometric

with the larger OPD, i.e. range 1, gives a high-resolution

λ2B 4.2. Interrogation systems based on the edge filter

(up to a few micrometres) (Chang 1981). Therefore, this

techniques which are suitable for conventional fibre-optic

5.1. Wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM)

5. Multiplexing techniques 5.1.3. WDM schemes with tuneable filters. Another

5.2. Time-division-multiplexing (TDM)

Table 7. Brief summary of FBG interrogation techniques.

EF: edge filter method; TF: tuneable filter method; IS:

Table 8. Brief summary of FBG multiplexing techniques.

TDM WDM SDM SDM/WDM

TDM: time-division-multiplexing; WDM: wavelength-division-multiplexing;

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