Uncertainty analysis for a high-spatial resolution single-mode fiber-optic distributed temperature sensor

Published

November 17, 2011

Author(s)

Shellee D. Dyer, Michael Tanner, Burm Baek, Robert Hadfield, Sae Woo Nam

Abstract

We demonstrate a high-accuracy distributed fiber optic temperature sensor using superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors and single photon counting techniques. Our demonstration uses inexpensive single-mode fiber at standard telecommunications wavelengths as the sensing fiber, which enables extremely low-loss experiments and compatibility with existing fiber networks. We show that the uncertainty of the temperature measurement decreases with longer integration periods, and that temperature uncertainty on the order of 3 K is possible with integration period as small as 60 seconds. Also, we show that the measurement exhibits unwanted polarization sensitivity, which can be reduced with a polarization diversity receiver.

Citation

Optics Express

Volume

10

Issue

99

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Low light level detectors, Fiber optics sensors, Optical time domain reflectometry, Raman effect

Citation

Dyer, S. , Tanner, M. , Baek, B. , Hadfield, R. and Nam, S. (2011), Uncertainty analysis for a high-spatial resolution single-mode fiber-optic distributed temperature sensor, Optics Express, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=910008 (Accessed October 22, 2025)