Improving the SNR of the phase-OTDR by controlling the carrier in the SOA. Issue 14 (15th August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Yun; Mao, Barerem-Melgueba; Zhou, Bin; Guo, Changjian; Lin, Ziqi
• Is Part Of: Journal of modern optics. Volume 67:Issue 14(2020)
• Page Start: 1241
• Page End: 1246
• Publication Date: 2020-08-15
• Subjects: Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) -- phase-OTDR -- signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) -- distributed vibration sensor; Optics -- Periodicals; 535
• DOI: 10.1080/09500340.2020.1827071
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-0340

Abstract

Abstract : Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) is a common choice for pulse generator of a homodyne phase-OTDR (phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry) system. A forced carrier recombination method is proposed for improving the extinction ratio (ER) of an SOA. The input laser-excited carriers in the SOA can reduce its ER. The proposed method eventually improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the phase-OTDR. The effect of ER improvement is analysed by using the rate equation model, and in the experiment the SNR is improved by 5.2 dB in the phase-OTDR system: this result is important for long distance distributed vibration sensing application.