The Kerr phase-interrogator: exploiting the nonlinear Kerr-effect for overcoming fundamental limitations in linear sensing approaches

摘要

We present the Kerr phase-interrogator as a novel optical processing unit based on the nonlinear Kerr effect for sensing application. The Korr phase-interrogator enables a variety of point sensors for displacement, temperature, and vibrations measurement, and enables distributed sensing based on incoherent optical frequency domain reflectometry. We highlight some of the unique advantages of the Kerr phase-interrogator including sensitivity enhancement beyond the wavelength limit of standard interferometers, and increasing the sensing range beyond the laser coherence-length using incoherent optical frequency-domain reflectometry. We believe the Kerr phase-interrogator represents a breakthrough in optical sensing because it allows for overcoming fundamental limitations of existing sensors that are based on linear optical effects.