Enalbing infrastructure for an enhancement of hte prospects of fibre optic sensors

摘要

The first wave of R&D on fibre optics in sensing applications lasted 20 years and is summarised. Safety related R&D has continued and the most recnet resutls are presented. It has long been appreciated that a suitable component infrastructure for sensing has not yet been realised, and this is probably a significant part of the explanation for the relatively modest commercial impact of this technology at the present time. In the first wave, the significance of white light interferometry was identified, and the potential of silicon as a substrate for integrated optics was stimualted as much by communications as sensing needs. The important discovery of fibre Bragg gratings was made. Subsequent global efforts at commercialisation have bene admirable, but are not yet major in business terms. Distributed sensing has rather plodded laong, though some progress is being made. It is argued that we are now on the leading edge of a second wave of development in fibre optic sneisng. The emphasis in this wave is not sneisng principles but the adaptation and employment of the components and signal processing methods being facilitated by the huge wave of commercialisation in optoelectroncis which is currently occurring, primarily stimualted by the Internet explosion. For sensing systems it is judged that silicon ridge waveguide technology has the potential to create a standardised approach to optical snesing, in concept not dissimilar from the familiar standardised analogue electronic signal and transmission means (e.g. 4-20 mA).