A METHOD FOR MEASURING AT LEAST ONE PHYSICAL PARAMETER USINGAN OPTICAL RESONATOR

摘要

Light from a light source (1) is fed into a resonator comprising an resonator fiber (3) and highly reflective couplers (4, 5). Light coupled out of the resonator fiber (3) is detected by a light sensor (7). The resonator is built such that its losses depend on a physical parameter to be measured. The light fed to the light source is switched on and off in step-like manner and the corresponding build-up or decay of the light de- tector signal is used to determine the time constant of the resonator and therefrom the physical parameter. It is found that, even when light of a comparatively broad bandwidth is used, accurate measurements of the time con- stant are possible.