A waveguide for guiding an electro-magnetic wave comprises: a first waveguide part; and a second waveguide part; wherein the first waveguide part has a first width in a first direction (Y) perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the electro-magnetic wave and the second waveguide part has a second width in the first direction (Y), wherein the second width is larger than the first width; and wherein the first and the second waveguide parts are spaced apart by a gap in a second direction (Z) perpendicular to the first and second planes in which the waveguide parts are formed, wherein the gap has a size which is sufficiently small such that the first and second waveguide parts unitely form a single waveguide for guiding the electro-magnetic wave.

A photonic integrated circuit component, a sensor and an actuator comprising the waveguide are disclosed.

In a sensor device, a plurality of light guides having a respective first end and a respective second end are arranged on a common carrier, with the first end of each light guide of the plurality of light guides at a respective defined position on the carrier. At each of the second ends of the light guides there is provided at least one sensor element which exhibits an optical behavior dependent on an analyte. The second ends are at defined perpendicular distances to the carrier. At least two of the second ends differ with respect to the defined perpendicular distances.

The shape sensor system of the present invention includes a braided structure in which small diameter bending members including two or more optical fibers, provided with detection target portions, are spirally wound around a core member as an axis in directions opposite to each other, or a braided structure in which three or more small diameter bending members including an optical fiber and a dummy optical fiber or a thin metal wire are braided, a plurality of detection target portions are distributed in the direction around the axis of the core member, the bending directions of the respective bending members are synthesized to detect a bending shape of the probe portion, a function of adjusting the fiber length in a braiding cycle is performed, and position deviation does not occur.

A displacement detection device is capable of stably and accurately detecting an amount of displacement. A polarization maintaining fiber has a length not to be equal to a length obtained by dividing, a product of an integral multiple of twice a length of a resonator times a refractive index of the resonator and a beat length obtained from a difference between propagation constants of two polarization modes, by a wavelength of the light source, is selected from a range including a length equal to the above length. The polarization maintaining fiber includes multiple polarization maintaining fibers fitted to each other by removable connectors.

A miniaturized fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogation system may comprise a light source, a FBG sensor, and a photodetector. The FBG sensor may be configured to receive an optical signal from the light source, interact with a transmitted spectrum of the light source over a discriminating spectral domain, and generate a reflected optical signal representative of a change in a physical signal sensed by the FBG sensor. Additionally, the system may include a power management unit configured to reduce power consumption in order to prolong the lifespan of the system.

An image processing apparatus and method for detecting a position of a rotating optical fiber is provided. The apparatus includes at least one rotating optical fiber that rotates about an axis of rotation and that emits light towards a surface and at least two stationary fibers for transmitting light reflected from a surface, each of the at least two stationary fibers having a known predetermined position relative to each other and to the axis of rotation of the at least one rotating optical fiber. At least one detector is configured to detect an intensity of light transmitted through each of the at least two stationary fibers within a given time interval and at least one calculator is configured to use the detected intensities and the known predetermined positions of each of the at least two stationary fibers to determine a relative angular position of the rotating optical fiber with respect to the at least two stationary fibers.

Disclosed herein is an optical cable comprising a plurality of cable sensors helically wound around a support; and an outer jacket that is disposed on the plurality of cable sensors and surrounds the plurality of cable sensors; where each cable sensor comprises an optical fiber; where the optical fiber comprises an optical core upon which is disposed a cladding; a primary coating; a deformable material surrounding the optical fiber; and an outer tube surrounding the deformable material; where the optical fiber is of equal length to the outer tube; and where an allowable strain on the optical cable with zero stress on the optical fiber is determined by equations (1) and (2) below: $ .Math. = 2 ( D + d 2 ) 2 + p 2 p - 2 ( D - d 2 ) 2 + p 2 Sapphire Sensor for Measuring Pressure and Temperature 20200132561 · 2020-04-30 · Bo Dong, Anbo Wang A sensor for measuring pressure, temperature or both may be provided. The sensor may include a diaphragm that may respond to a change in temperature or pressure, a base connected to the diaphragm, a cavity, and an optical fiber that may conduct light reflected off of a surface of the diaphragm. The diaphragm and base may be sapphire elements. An interrogator may be provided for detecting a deflection of the diaphragm. Reflectometric vibration measurement system and relative method for monitoring multiphase flows 10634551 · 2020-04-28 · Eni S.P.A. · Andrea Galtarossa, Luca PALMIERI, Massimo ZAMPATO Reflectometric vibration measurement system to monitor multiphase flows in production wells or pipelines using multimode fibers comprising: a sensing multimode optical fiber; an optical source with at least one fiber output port, which generates optical pulses which are to be sent to the sensing fiber; an optical receiver with at least one multimode fiber input port; an optical device with at least 3 multimode fiber ports, in which one port is connected to the optical source, one port to the optical receiver, and one port to the sensing multimode fiber; a system for processing the output signals from the optical receiver, further comprising more than one spatial mode filter. A process for reconfiguring an optical reflectometry system which has already been installed in a monitoring structure is also described. MULTIBEND SENSOR 20200124397 · 2020-04-23 · Tactual Labs Co. · Paul Henry Dietz A multibend sensor is able to provide information regarding bending of the sensor data in a manner able to mitigate error propagation. A reference strip and a sliding strip are separated from each other by a spacer. Electrodes are located on the reference strip and the sliding strip. The bending of the multibend sensor will be reflected in the shifting of the sliding strip with respect to the reference strip and the measurements obtained from the electrodes. $