Abstract

Brillouin scattering which occurs in optical fibers can be used to sense for distributed strain^[1] and temperature^[2,3] since the Brillouin frequency shift _B is a function of strain and temperature, _B distribution along a fiber length has been measured with the counterpropagating pumpprobe technique.^[1] This technique can produce a large signal power due to the large Brillouin gain coefficient, but suffers from the disadvantage that both ends of a fiber must be accessed. This paper reports Brillouin opticalfiber time domain reflectometry (BOTDR), which requires access to only one end of a fiber.

© 1992 IQEC