The present invention is to provide a backscattered light amplification device, an optical pulse test apparatus, a backscattered light amplification method, and an optical pulse test method for amplifying a desired propagation mode of Rayleigh backscattered light with a desired gain by stimulated Brillouin scattering in a fiber under test having the plurality of propagation modes. The backscattered light amplification device according to the present invention is configured to control individually power, incident timing, and pulse width of a pump pulse for each propagation mode when the pump pulse is incident in a plurality of propagation modes after the probe pulse is input to the fiber under test in any propagation mode.

An object of the present invention is to provide a Raman gain efficiency distribution testing method and a Raman gain efficiency distribution testing apparatus for measuring a Raman gain efficiency distribution of a fundamental mode and a first high-order mode in a few-mode fiber. The Raman gain efficiency distribution testing method and the Raman gain efficiency distribution testing apparatus according to the present invention compute a Raman gain coefficient of a tested optical fiber from a Raman gain coefficient of a pure quartz core optical fiber at an excitation wavelength of 1 μm, a wavelength of excitation light, and a relative refractive index difference between a core and a clad at an arbitrary position z, compute electric field distribution overlap integrals at an arbitrary position z, between modes, of a mode field diameter of each mode at a wavelength of signal light, and a mode field diameter of each mode at a wavelength of excitation light; and compute the product of the Raman gain coefficient and the electric field distribution overlap integrals, and acquire Raman gain efficiencies, between modes, of the signal light and the excitation light at the arbitrary position z.

An object is to provide a light intensity distribution measurement method and a light intensity distribution measurement apparatus that are capable of accurately measuring the intensity of light in each mode at each position of an optical fiber through which light is propagated in a plurality of modes. With a light intensity distribution measurement apparatus according to the present invention, a gain coefficient matrix is acquired in advance, which is constituted by Brillouin gain coefficients of propagation modes with predetermined optical frequency differences measured using a reference optical fiber that exhibits the same properties as a measurement-target optical fiber and that does not cause mode coupling, and the intensity distribution of light in each propagation mode in a lengthwise direction of the measurement-target optical fiber is calculated based on the gain coefficient matrix and a difference in light intensity before and after Brillouin amplification of the probe light emitted in a predetermined propagation mode at a predetermined optical frequency difference measured using the measurement-target optical fiber.

An object is to provide a propagation property analyzing apparatus that can alleviate the influence of an error caused by crosstalk, and accurately evaluate a few-mode optical fiber that multiplexes a plurality of modes, in a distributional and non-destructive manner. Provided is a propagation property analyzing apparatus that analyzes propagation properties of a few-mode optical fiber that multiplexes a plurality of modes, which is an optical fiber under test, in a lengthwise direction thereof, through Brillouin time domain analysis, the propagation property analyzing apparatus including: means for inputting probe light in a desired mode from a distal end of the optical fiber under test; means for inputting a light pulse that is in the desired mode and that has a frequency difference equivalent to a Brillouin frequency shift in the desired mode, relative to the probe light, from a proximal end of the optical fiber under test, as pump light corresponding to the probe light; and means for inputting a light pulse that is in another mode different from the desired mode and that has a frequency difference equivalent to a Brillouin frequency shift in the other mode, relative to the probe light, as secondary probe light corresponding to the probe light, from the proximal end of the optical fiber under test.

An optical fiber loss measurement device includes a unit configured to input pump light at a first frequency in a predetermined mode to a measurement target optical fiber in which a plurality of modes propagate from a first end, and input probe light at a second frequency to which a Brillouin frequency shift is applied to a second end, a Brillouin gain acquisition unit configured to measure an intensity of light output from the first end to acquire Brillouin gains in a longitudinal direction of the measurement target optical fiber using a BOTDA method, and a unit configured to measure a loss in the predetermined mode of the measurement target optical fiber, and the probe light is in a mode in which an electric field distribution in a cross section of the measurement target optical fiber is axisymmetric.

An object of the present invention is to provide a Raman gain efficiency distribution testing method and a Raman gain efficiency distribution testing apparatus for measuring a Raman gain efficiency distribution of a fundamental mode and a first high-order mode in a few-mode fiber. The Raman gain efficiency distribution testing method and the Raman gain efficiency distribution testing apparatus according to the present invention compute a Raman gain coefficient of a tested optical fiber from a Raman gain coefficient of a pure quartz core optical fiber at an excitation wavelength of 1 μm, a wavelength of excitation light, and a relative refractive index difference between a core and a clad at an arbitrary position z, compute electric field distribution overlap integrals at an arbitrary position z, between modes, of a mode field diameter of each mode at a wavelength of signal light, and a mode field diameter of each mode at a wavelength of excitation light; and compute the product of the Raman gain coefficient and the electric field distribution overlap integrals, and acquire Raman gain efficiencies, between modes, of the signal light and the excitation light at the arbitrary position z.

An optical fiber loss measurement device includes a unit configured to input pump light at a first frequency in a predetermined mode to a measurement target optical fiber in which a plurality of modes propagate from a first end, and input probe light at a second frequency to which a Brillouin frequency shift is applied to a second end, a Brillouin gain acquisition unit configured to measure an intensity of light output from the first end to acquire Brillouin gains in a longitudinal direction of the measurement target optical fiber using a BOTDA method, and a unit configured to measure a loss in the predetermined mode of the measurement target optical fiber, and the probe light is in a mode in which an electric field distribution in a cross section of the measurement target optical fiber is axisymmetric.

A method and system for determining deformation in a cable 110, wherein a sensing optical fiber arrangement is applied along the cable 110. The method comprises injecting a forward pulse pump signal in the optical fiber in a forward direction of the optical fiber; injecting a reverse probe signal in the optical fiber in a reverse direction of the optical fiber; measuring a stimulated Brillouin backscattering; and based on the Brillouin backscattering measurement, providing information about a deformation of the cable. The forward pulse pump signal is provided as a sum of a stationary signal component and an interrogation pulse component, and advantageously, the stationary signal component has an energy below a Brillouin activation level and the interrogation pulse signal component has an energy which results in that the sum of the stationary signal component and the interrogation pulse signal component exceeds the Brillouin activation level. The method and system may be used during deployment of a subsea power cable 110 to a sea bottom 100 from a cable reel 130 positioned on the deck of a cable-laying vessel 120 floating on a sea surface 140.

An optical fiber characteristic measurement device includes: a detector that detects Brillouin scattered light obtained by causing light to be incident on an optical fiber under test; a spectrum analyzer that obtains a Brillouin gain spectrum from the Brillouin scattered light; and a spectrum analyzing controller that: measures a characteristic of the optical fiber under test by analyzing the Brillouin gain spectrum to obtain a peak frequency of the Brillouin gain spectrum, and changes a frequency range used by the spectrum analyzer to obtain the Brillouin gain spectrum according to the peak frequency.

Aspects of the present disclosure describe systems, methods and structures and applications of optical fiber sensing. Of significance, systems, methods, and structures according to aspects of the present disclosure may reuse and/or retrofit/upgrade existing optical fiber cables as part of optical fiber sensing that may find important societal application including intrusion detection, road traffic monitoring and infrastructure health monitoring. Combining such optical fiber sensing with artificial intelligence (AI) further enables powerful applications at low(er) cost.