We review the recent developments in the area of optical fiber grating sensors, including quasi-distributed strain sensing using Bragg gratings, systems based on chirped gratings, intragrating sensing concepts, long period-based grating sensors, fiber grating laser-based systems, and interferometric sensor systems based on grating reflectors.

Fiber grating sensors

Review of the present status of optical fiber sensors

Recent research on fibre optic long-period gratings (LPGs) is reviewed with emphasis placed upon the characteristics of LPGs that make them attractive for applications in sensing strain, temperature, bend radius and external index of refraction. The prospect of the development of multi-parameter sensors, capable of simultaneously monitoring a number of these measurands will be discussed.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0957-0233/14/5/201/pdf

Optical fibre long-period grating sensors: characteristics and application

In-fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are one of the most exciting developments in the field of optical fibre sensors in recent years. Compared with conventional fibre-optic sensors, FBG sensors have a number of distinguishing advantages. Significant progress has been made in applications to strain and temperature measurements. FBG sensors prove to be one of the most promising candidates for fibre-optic smart structures. This article presents a comprehensive and systematic overview of FBG sensor technology regarding many aspects including sensing principles, properties, fabrication, interrogation and multiplexing of FBG sensors. It is anticipated that FBG sensor systems will be commercialized and widely applied in practice in the near future due to the maturity of economical production of FBGs and the availability of cost effective interrogation and multiplexing techniques.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0957-0233/8/4/002/pdf

In-fibre Bragg grating sensors

The spectroscopic properties, structure and interconversions of optically active oxygen-deficiency-related point defects in vitreous silica are reviewed. These defects, the E′-centers (oxygen vacancies with a trapped hole or 3-fold-coordinated silicons), different variants of diamagnetic `ODCs' (oxygen-deficiency centers), and their Ge-related analogs play a key role in the fiber-optic Bragg grating writing processes. The controversy surrounding the structural models for the Si- and Ge-related ODCs is discussed and the similarity between the bulk and surface point defects in silica is emphasized. The possible interconversion mechanisms between 2-fold-coordinated Si, neutral oxygen vacancies and E′-centers are discussed. The effects of glassy disorder have a profound effect on defect properties and interconversion processes in silica.

Optically active oxygen-deficiency-related centers in amorphous silicon dioxide

More than 450 fiber Bragg gratings have been fabricated in line during the draw process in a period of 1 h with single pulses of a KrF excimer laser. Arrays of gratings have been written at different Bragg wavelengths by using an automated, computer-controlled interferometer.

Stepped-wavelength optical-fiber Bragg grating arrays fabricated in line on a draw tower

A series of synthetic fused silicas of diverse OH contents was subjected to 100-keV x irradiations at 77 K and investigated by electron-spin-resonance techniques at \ensuremath{\sim}110 K or higher temperatures. Spectra were recorded at X-band frequencies (\ensuremath{\sim}9.2--9.3 GHz) both as the first derivative of absorption and in the high-power second-harmonic mode in order to bring out features not fully accessible by using one of these methods alone. In addition to the previously known ${E}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{\mathcal{'}}$, ${E}_{\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{\mathcal{'}}$, and oxygen-associated hole centers, three new defects were detected and characterized by computer line-shape simulation methods. These were atomic chlorine, a delocalized E' center (denoted ${E}_{\ensuremath{\delta}}^{\mathcal{'}}$), and the first biradical to be reported in a-${\mathrm{SiO}}_{2}$. A sample-to-sample correlation of the radiation yields of these three new centers has been noted, leading to the suggestion that all three find their origins in specific chlorine-decorated precursor sites in the unirradiated glasses. Although significant chlorine impurities (g100 ppm) may be ubiquitous in both type-III (high OH) and type-IV (low OH) fused silicas, the occurrence of chlorine-associated radiation-induced defects appears to be anticorrelated with the OH contents of the materials. Some possible technological implications of these findings are discussed.

Fundamental radiation-induced defect centers in synthetic fused silicas: Atomic chlorine, delocalized E' centers, and a triplet state.

We propose, and verify in the case of a Ge-doped-silica-core optical fiber, a general explanation for the power-law dependencies on dose frequently observed for the concentrations of radiation-induced defect centers in insulating glasses. This insight permits detailed prediction of the postirradiation recovery curves, given just the empirical exponent of the power law, 0<f<1, and the experimental irradiation time, t irrad . The time constant of the recovery is given by t irrad /(1-f), independent of the order of the kinetics. We establish a microscopic model (radiolytic oxygen molecules) for the γ-ray-induced absorption at 1-3 μm in our test fibers and infer a diffusion-limited bimolecular recombination process

Radiation-induced defects in glasses: Origin of power-law dependence of concentration on dose

$^{29}\mathrm{Si}$ hyperfine structure determinations for two fundamental oxygen-associated paramagnetic defect centers in high-purity amorphous silica complete the characterization of the nonbridging oxygen hole center and the peroxy radical by demonstrating in each case that the oxygen(s) trapping the unpaired spin are bonded to only one silicon in the glass network. It is shown that these findings place important constraints on the supposed precursors of the peroxy radical in $a$-Si${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$.

E. J. Friebele

Papers

Stepped-wavelength optical-fiber Bragg grating arrays fabricated in line on a draw tower

Fundamental radiation-induced defect centers in synthetic fused silicas: Atomic chlorine, delocalized E' centers, and a triplet state.

Radiation-induced defects in glasses: Origin of power-law dependence of concentration on dose

Fundamental defect centers in glass: Si 29 hyperfine structure of the nonbridging oxygen hole center and the peroxy radical in a -Si O 2

Mechanism of intrinsic Si E'-center photogeneration in high-purity silica.