Fiber laser sensor.

摘要

A fiber laser sensor is comprised of two fiber lasers which are each optically coupled to a third fiber so that energy is exchanged between each of the laser fibers and the third fiber. The coupling is accomplished by arranging the laser fibers parallel to and on either side of a third fiber and properly spacing the three fibers to produce optical coupling along the length of the fibers. The central fiber ends are non-reflective so that light generated by one of the lasers and coupled to the central fiber is lost except for a small fraction of the energy transferred to the other laser. Accordingly, the structure operates with the least loss when the two lasers oscillate at a common frequency but 180° out-of-phase. The resonant cavities of the two fiber lasers are made non-identical by making the path length one cavity slightly longer than the other to produce Vernier tuning of the laser resonant frequency orders relative to each other with only one common resonant frequency. As this common frequency has the lowest losses, the structure will oscillate at that frequency. To further insure that only one output frequency is generated, methods are disclosed to insure that both cavities maintain oscillation with constant polarization. The device can be used as a sensor because the common laser output frequency is sensitive to changes in the optical path length of either or both of the laser cavities. Examples are disclosed in which several variables, including temperature, pressure or magnetic field strength, are used to affect the optical path length and thus the output frequency.