The present invention provides a gas measuring method based on photothermal effect in hollow-core optical fiber comprising: filling a target gas into the core of a hollow-core optical fiber; coupling a probe light and a periodically modulated pump light into the hollow-core optical fiber; absorbing the pump light by the target gas resulting in the periodic modulation of the phase of the probe light; demodulating the phase modulation information of the probe light to obtain the concentration of the target gas, wherein the pump laser is wavelength and/or amplitude modulated. In the present invention, two lasers including a pump laser and a probe laser are used for the measurement, this approach is simple and practical. Also, the use of the hollow-core optical fiber with extremely-small core area greatly increases the optical power density, thus enhances the strength of the detected photothermal signal; this method allows ppb level gas measurement with high selectivity, and is universally suitable for the detection of gases with absorption in near-infrared.

Materials, methods of making, and methods of sensing liquid droplets with high spatial resolution as a signature of the on-set of corrosion using a hierarchical sensor network A hierarchical sensor network for sensing liquid droplets with high spatial resolution as a signature of the on-set of corrosion, including an interrogation system; and an intermediate sensor array layer in communication with the interrogation system. The network includes an interrogation system and an intermediate sensor array layer in communication with the interrogation system.

Materials, methods of making, and methods of sensing liquid droplets with high spatial resolution as a signature of the on-set of corrosion using a hierarchical sensor network A hierarchical sensor network for sensing liquid droplets with high spatial resolution as a signature of the on-set of corrosion, including an interrogation system; and an intermediate sensor array layer in communication with the interrogation system. The network includes an interrogation system and an intermediate sensor array layer in communication with the interrogation system.

Fibre linear cavity ring down device for decay time-based attenuation sensing, comprising a bi-directional fibre optic coupler having two fibre port coupling sides, a left-hand port side and a right-hand port side, and a port mirror; wherein signal input on one of said sides is coupled to signal output on the other of said sides; wherein the left-hand port side comprises a first fibre port (port 1) for coupling to an optical light source, the left-hand port side comprises a second fibre port (port 2) coupled to said port mirror (mirror 2), and the right-hand port side comprises a third fibre port (port 3) for coupling to a sensor fibre comprising one or more sensors and optically terminated by a sensor fibre mirror (mirror 1). The optical light source may be also an optical light receiver. The optical light source and receiver may preferably be an optical time domain reflectometer.

Fibre linear cavity ring down device for decay time-based attenuation sensing, comprising a bi-directional fibre optic coupler having two fibre port coupling sides, a left-hand port side and a right-hand port side, and a port mirror; wherein signal input on one of said sides is coupled to signal output on the other of said sides; wherein the left-hand port side comprises a first fibre port (port 1) for coupling to an optical light source, the left-hand port side comprises a second fibre port (port 2) coupled to said port mirror (mirror 2), and the right-hand port side comprises a third fibre port (port 3) for coupling to a sensor fibre comprising one or more sensors and optically terminated by a sensor fibre mirror (mirror 1). The optical light source may be also an optical light receiver. The optical light source and receiver may preferably be an optical time domain reflectometer.

The present invention relates to an optical fiber for use in a system for detection of one or more compounds in a fluid. The optical fiber (100, 101, 202) comprising at least two binding portions (102, 104, 118, 210, 211, 212) separated from each other along the longitudinal direction (106) of the optical fiber (100, 101, 202), wherein each of the at least two binding portions (102, 104, 118, 210, 211, 212) comprises a plasmonic structure (120) and/or a SERS structure (121), and a binding material (126) for binding of one or more compounds, wherein at least two binding portions (102, 104, 118, 210, 211, 212) are arranged for binding the same compound or compounds, wherein the optical fiber (100, 101, 202) is arranged for receiving light and transmitting light to each of the at least two binding portions, wherein each of the at least two binding portions (102, 104, 118, 210, 211, 212) is arranged such that light transmitted through that binding portion (102, 104, 118, 210, 211, 212) without bound compound is different compared to light transmitted through that binding portion (102, 104, 118, 210, 211, 212) with bound compound, or light reflected back from that binding portion (102, 104, 118, 210, 211, 212) without bound compound is different compared to light reflected back from that binding portion (102, 104, 118, 210, 211, 212) with bound compound. The present invention further relates to a system (200) for detection of one or more compounds in a fluid (103) and an optical fiber (100, 101, 202) for use in such a system (200) and a method (400) using the system (200).

A method for estimating an environmental parameter includes transmitting a first interrogation signal into an optical fiber, receiving a reflected return signal including light reflected from one or more of the plurality of FBG's in the fiber and receiving at a processor data describing the reflected return signal. The received data is comparted to expected data to determine a shift in wavelength of light reflected for one or more of the plurality of FBGs and a change in a length of a dead zone of the optical fiber based on the comparison is also determined. From this, estimates of locations two or more of the plurality of FBG's are formed.

Systems and methods for distributed acoustic sensing based on coherent Rayleigh scattering are disclosed herein. A system comprises a pulse generator, an interferometer, a photo detector assembly, and an information handling system. The interferometer comprises a first and second optical switch each comprising a plurality of ports. The information handling system activates one port on each of the first and second optical switches so as to vary the optical path length of the interferometer. A method comprises splitting backscattered light from an optical pulse into a first portion and a second portion, activating one port of a first optical switch and one port of a second optical switch, sending the first portion into a first arm of an interferometer, sending the second portion into a second arm of the interferometer, combining the first and second portions to form an interferometric signal, and receiving the interferometric signal at a photodetector assembly.

Aspects of the present disclosure describe improved distributed acoustic sensing using dynamic range suppression of optical time domain reflectometry either by using a feedback loop comprising optical and electrical elements or using a nonlinear element in the electrical domain after coherent detection. When using a feedback loop, the amplitude of the periodic waveform of coherent OTDR can be inverted. This allows optical pre-compensation of the received optical signal before coherent detection with the goal of minimizing amplitude dynamic range. Alternatively, a nonlinear element in the electrical domain can reduce amplitude dynamic range before sampling by analog-to-digital converters (ADC).

The invention relates to a device (10) comprising a support (14) having a wave guide (42) allowing the propagation of light of at least one wavelength, generating evanescent waves outwards. According to the invention, the device comprises means for receiving a liquid sample, designed to receive the liquid sample upon contact of the wave guide (42) in such a way as to impregnate the wave guide with a portion of the liquid sample, and actuatable means for breaking the contact between the liquid sample and the wave guide (42).