A five-degree-of-freedom heterodyne grating interferometry system comprises: a single-frequency laser for emitting single-frequency laser light, the single-frequency laser light can be split into a reference light beam and a measurement light beam; an interferometer lens set and a measurement grating for converting the reference light and the measurement light into a reference interference signal and a measurement interference signal; and multiple optical fiber bundles respectively receiving the measurement interference signal and the reference interference signal, wherein each optical fiber bundle has multiple multi-mode optical fibers respectively receiving interference signals at different positions on the same plane. The system is not over-sensitive to the environment, is small and light, and is easy to arrange. Six-degree-of-freedom ultra-precision measurement can be achieved by arranging multiple five-degree-of-freedom interferometry systems and using redundant information, thereby meeting the needs of a lithography machine worktable for six-degree-of-freedom position and orientation measurement.

An active fiber stretcher assembly can be used for data acquisition systems. A time-break signal can be detected that coincides with a seismic event emitted from a seismic controller. A predetermined waveform can be generated in response to detecting the time-break signal. The predetermined waveform may be encoded onto a fiber optic cable using a fiber stretcher. A data acquisition system connected to the fiber optic cable may detect the predetermined waveform on the fiber optic cable and initiate acquisition operations including: receiving, during the seismic event, light signals returning from a portion of the fiber optic cable in a subterranean environment; determining one or more characteristics of the subterranean environment from the light signals; and storing the one or more characteristics.

Aspects of the subject technology relate to systems and methods for determining positions of cementing plugs during a cementing process. Systems and methods are provided for determining a length of an optical fiber line deployed into a wellbore for a cementing process, measuring signal intensity data as a function of distance from the optical fiber line, the optical fiber line being attached to a lower cementing plug and an upper cementing plug, the upper cementing plug being attached to the optical fiber line by an attenuation assembly, generating signal intensity profiles based on the signal intensity data as a function of a round trip delay of a light signal in the optical fiber line, and determining positions of the lower cementing plug and the upper cementing plug based on the signal intensity profiles of the optical fiber line.

A fiber optic sensor and a related method of manufacture are provided. The fiber optic sensor includes an embedded optical fiber contained within a metal diaphragm assembly, where the terminal end of the optical fiber is positioned opposite a diaphragm. The method includes forming a metal-embedded optical fiber by ultrasonic additive manufacturing and securing the metal-embedded optical fiber to a housing having a diaphragm that is opposite of the terminal end of the optical fiber. The sensor can provide extremely accurate pressure measurement at high temperatures and in highly corrosive media. An optical fiber-based pressure sensing system is also provided.

An improved optical fiber distributed acoustic sensor system uses an optical fiber having reflector portions distributed along its length in at least a first portion. The reflector portions are positioned along the fiber separated by a distance that is equivalent to twice the distance an optical pulse travels along the fiber in a single sampling period of the data acquisition opto-electronics within the sensor system. No oversampling of the reflections of the optical pulses from the reflector portions is undertaken. The sampling points for data acquisition in the sensor system are aligned with the reflections that arrive at the sensor system from along the sensing fiber. Adaptive delay componentry adaptively aligns the reflected optical signals (or their electrical analogues) with the sampling points. Control over the sampling points can re-synchronise the sampling points with the returning reflections. Reflection equalisation componentry may reduce the dynamic range of the returning reflections.

An optical interrogation system, e.g., an OFDR-based system, measures local changes, of index of refraction of a sensing light guide subjected to a time-varying disturbance. Interferometric measurement signals detected for a length of the sensing light guide are transformed into the spectral domain. A time varying signal is determined from the transformed interferometric measurement data set. A compensating signal is determined from the time varying signal which is used to compensate the interferometric measurement data set for the time-varying disturbance. Further robustness is achieved using averaging and strain compensation. The compensation technique may be applied along the length of the light guide.

The present invention relates to an FBG sensor for measuring a maximum strain of an object being measured, a method for manufacturing the sensor, and a method of using the sensor. To this end, provided is the FBG sensor for measuring a maximum strain, comprising: an optical fiber (130) having an FBG sensor (150) therein; a first metallic foil (120) contacting the optical fiber (130) on one surface thereof; a second metallic foil (120) which comes into surface-contact with the one surface; an adhesive layer (140) provided between the first and second metallic foils (100, 120); a means for measuring a residual strain of the first and second metallic foils (100, 120) through the FBG sensor (150); and a means for calculating a maximum strain on the basis of the measured residual strain and a sensitivity coefficient (Csen) obtained through experimentation.

A system for measuring subterranean physical properties, in some embodiments, comprises a source of broadband light, an input optical fiber coupled to the source of broadband light, a wavelength division demultiplexer coupled to the input optical fiber, a plurality of detectors arranged in parallel and coupled to the demultiplexer, a wavelength division multiplexer coupled to the plurality of detectors, and an output optical fiber coupled to the multiplexer.

Interferometric measurement signals are detected by a single optical interferometric interrogator for a length of a sensing light guide and an interferometric measurement data set corresponding to the interferometric measurement signals is generated. The interferometric measurement data set is transformed into a spectral domain to produce a transformed interferometric measurement data set. The transformed interferometric measurement data set is compared to a baseline interferometric data set to identify a time-varying signal corresponding to a time-varying disturbance. The baseline interferometric data set is representative of the sensing light guide not being subjected to the time-varying disturbance. A compensating signal is determined from the time-varying signal and used to compensate at least a portion of the interferometric measurement data set for the time-varying disturbance as part of producing a measurement of the parameter.

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. The waveguide may be used in numerous applications, such as in a photonic integrated circuit, in a sensor or in an actuator.