The spatial resolution of OFDR is normally degraded by the laser phase noise, deviations from linear frequency scan and acoustic noise in the fibers. A method for mitigating these degradation mechanisms, without using an auxiliary interferometer, via inline auxiliary points, is presented and demonstrated experimentally. Auxiliary points are points that are a priori known to have (spatial) impulse reflectivities. Their responses are used for compensating the phase deviations that degrade the response of points that are further away from the source.

© 2012 OSA

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Appl. Opt.

• M. K. Barnoski and S. M. Jensen, “Fiber waveguides: a novel technique for investigating attenuation characteristics,” Appl. Opt.15(9), 2112–2115 (1976). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Appl. Phys. Lett.

• W. Eickhoff and R. Ulrich, “Optical frequency domain reflectometry in single-mode fiber,” Appl. Phys. Lett.39(9), 693–695 (1981). [CrossRef]

Electron. Lett.

• G. Mussi, N. Gisin, R. Passy, and J. P. von derWeid, “−152.5 dB sensitivity high dynamic-range optical frequency-domain reflectometry,” Electron. Lett.32(10), 926–927 (1996). [CrossRef]

J. Lightwave Technol.

• S. Venkatesh and W. V. Sorin, “Phase noise considerations in coherent optical FMCW reflectometry,” J. Lightwave Technol.11(10), 1694–1700 (1993). [CrossRef]
• F. Ito, X. Fan, and Y. Koshikiya, “Long-range coherent OFDR with light source phase noise compensation,” J. Lightwave Technol.30(8), 1015–1024 (2012). [CrossRef]
• Y. Koshikiya, X. Fan, and F. Ito, “Influence of acoustic perturbation of fibers in phase-noise compensated optical frequency domain reflectometry,” J. Lightwave Technol.28(22), 3323–3328 (2010).
• H. Barfuss and E. Brinkmeyer, “Modified optical frequency domain reflectometry with high spatial resolution for components of integrated optic systems,” J. Lightwave Technol.7(1), 3–10 (1989). [CrossRef]
• M. Tateda and T. Horiguchi, “Advances in optical time-domain reflectometry,” J. Lightwave Technol.7(8), 1217–1224 (1989). [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

• B. J. Soller, D. K. Gifford, M. S. Wolfe, and M. E. Froggatt, “High resolution optical frequency domain reflectometry for characterization of components and assemblies,” Opt. Express13(2), 666–674 (2005). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Lett.

• X. Fan, Y. Koshikiya, and F. Ito, “Phase-noise-compensated optical frequency domain reflectometry with measurement range beyond laser coherence length realized using concatenative reference method,” Opt. Lett.32(22), 3227–3229 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

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