Fiber-optic flow sensors for high-temperature environment operation up to 800°C

This Letter presents an all-optical high-temperature flow sensor based on hot-wire anemometry. High-attenuation fibers (HAFs) were used as the heating elements. High-temperature-stable regenerated fiber Bragg gratings were inscribed in HAFs and in standard telecom fibers as temperature sensors. Using in-fiber light as both the heating power source and the interrogation light source, regenerative fiber Bragg grating sensors were used to gauge the heat transfer from an optically powered heating element induced by the gas flow. Reliable gas flow measurements were demonstrated between 0.066 m/s and 0.66 m/s from the room temperature to 800°C. This Letter presents a compact, low-cost, and multiflexible approach to measure gas flow for high-temperature harsh environments. © 2014 Optical Society of America

Distributed flow sensing using optical hot-wire grid

An optical hot-wire flow sensing grid is presented using a single piece of self-heated optical fiber to perform distributed flow measurement. The flow-induced temperature loss profiles along the fiber are interrogated by the in-fiber Rayleigh backscattering, and spatially resolved in millimeter resolution using optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR). The flow rate, position, and flow direction are retrieved simultaneously. Both electrical and optical on-fiber heating were demonstrated to suit different flow sensing applications. © 2012 Optical Society of America

A new algorithm for time-frequency spread coders using multirate filters

Filter banks have been shown to be efficient in several emerging signal communication applications. A new class of time-frequency spread coders for transmultiplexer systems using multirate filter banks is presented. As compared with conventional filter banks designed with stopband attenuation and passband flatness criteria, the user coders with the new algorithms are designed with time and frequency spread criteria. In new the algorithms, the filters are achieved through a cascade of lattice structures and delay chains. Along with the time-frequency property and the reconstruction property, the intercode/intracode correlation property are included in the design algorithms to be optimized. The designed coders are used in the application of digital watermarking of images and demonstrate good performance in JPEG encoding at different qualities.published_or_final_versio

Controlling Restricted Random Testing: An Examination of the Exclusion Ratio Parameter

In Restricted Random Testing (RRT), the main control parameter is the Target Exclusion Ratio (R), the proportion of the input domain to be excluded from test case generation at each iteration. Empirical investigations have consistently indicated that best failure-finding performance is achieved when the value for the Target Exclusion Ratio is maximised, i.e. close to 100%. This paper explains an algorithm to calculate the Actual Exclusion Ratio for RRT, and applies the algorithm to several simulations, confirming that previous empirically determined values for the Maximum Target Exclusion Ratio do give Actual Exclusion Ratios close to 100%. Previously observed trends of improvement in failure-finding efficiency of RRT corresponding to increases in Target Exclusion Ratios are also identified for Actual Exclusion Ratios.published_or_final_versio

Microstructural imaging of high repetition rate ultrafast laser written LiTaO<inf>3</inf> waveguides

The microstructural changes associated with the formation of lithium tantalate waveguides after high repetition rate ultrafast laser inscription has been investigated by confocal micro-Raman experiments. While the laser beam focal volume is characterized by significant lattice damage, no reduction of Raman mode strength has been observed at the guiding region, suggesting the preservation of the nonlinear optical coefficient in the waveguide. A general blueshift of the Raman modes has been observed at the guiding region, suggesting lattice compression as the dominant mechanism of waveguide formation. © 2009 American Institute of Physics

Engineering metal oxide nanostructures for the fiber optic sensor platform

This paper presents an effective integration scheme of nanostructured SnO2 with the fiber optic platform for chemical sensing applications based on evanescent optical interactions. By using a triblock copolymer as a structure directing agent as the means of nano-structuring, the refractive index of SnO2 is reduced from >2.0 to 1.46, in accordance with effective medium theory for optimal on-fiber integration. Hightemperature stable fiber Bragg gratings inscribed in D-shaped fibers were used to perform real-time characterization of optical absorption and refractive index modulation of metal oxides in response to NH3 from the room temperature to 500°C. Measurement results reveals that the redox reaction of the nanostructured metal oxides exposed to a reactive gas NH3 induces much stronger changes in optical absorption as opposed to changes in the refractive index. Results presented in this paper provide important guidance for fiber optic chemical sensing designs based on metal oxide nanomaterials. © 2014 Optical Society of America

Distributed liquid level sensors using self-heated optical fibers for cryogenic liquid management

We present a continuous liquid level sensing system for both room temperature and cryogenic fluids with millimeter spatial resolution. Change of in-fiber Rayleigh backscattering signal from the distinct thermal response of the heated sensing fiber in liquid and in air were interrogated and spatially resolved using the optical frequency domain reflectometry. Both electrical and optical heating techniques were investigated for cryogenic liquid applications at 4 K, 77 K, and the room temperature. The successful combination of self-heated fiber and wavelength-swept Rayleigh scattering interferometry provides, for the first time to our best knowledge, a truly distributed fuel gauge with high spatial resolution for cryogenic fuel storage, transportation, and management on ground and in space. © 2012 Optical Society of America

Fabrication of strong long-period gratings in hydrogen-free fibers with 157-nm F<inf>2</inf>-laser radiation

Long-period gratings were fabricated in standard telecommunication fiber (Corning SMF-28) by use of what is believed to be record short-wavelength light from a 157-nm F2 laser. Strong loss peaks were formed without the need for enhancement techniques such as hydrogen loading. The magnitude of the attenuation peak was sensitive to the single-pulse laser fluence, decreasing with increasing pulse fluence as a result of nonuniform 157-nm laser interaction with both the fiber cladding and core. The long-period fiber gratings have good wavelength stability (Δλ ∼ 7 nm) under thermal annealing at 150°C. © 2001 Optical Society of America

High repetition rate UV ultrafast laser inscription of buried channel waveguides in Sapphire: Fabrication and fluorescence imaging via ruby R lines

We report on the fabrication of buried cannel waveguides in Sapphire crystals by 250-kHz high repetition rate ultrafast laser inscription with 385 nm pulses. The propagation properties of the waveguides were studied as a function of the writing conditions. The micro-fluorescence analysis of the R lines generated by trace Cr3+ dopant in Sapphire is used to elucidate the micro-structural modifications induced in the crystal network. It is revealed that waveguide has been formed due to local dilatation of the Sapphire network generated in the surroundings of the focal volume. The refractive index increment due to the dilatation induced electronic polarizability enhancement has been estimated to be of the order of Δn ≈10-4. © 2009 Optical Society of America

A new synthesis procedure for linear-phase paraunitary digital filter banks

In this paper, a new design algorithm is presented for a family of linear phase paraunitary filter banks with generalized filter length and symmetric polarity. A number of new constraints on the distributions of filter length and symmetry polarity among the channels are derived. In the algorithm, the lengths of the filters are gradually reduced through a cascade of lattice structures. The derivations for filter banks with even and odd number of channels are formulated in a unified form.published_or_final_versio