Acousto-opto-mechanical theory for polarization maintaining optical fibers in Brillouin based sensing

• Strain sensitivities of BS based sensors in terms of acousto-optic effects.
• Performed experimental studies by using a high resolution BOTDA in order to evaluate the theoretical formulations.
• Single mode as well as polarization maintaining optical fibers were studied for a range of polarization angles.

Change in phase or wavelength for interferometric and fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG) based sensors can be described by strain-optic effects. In Brillouin sensors, strain sensitivity need to be expressed in terms of acousto-opto-mechanical properties of fibers. It is then possible to formulate theoretical relationships that lead to the evaluation of strain sensitivities and establishment of gauge factors for Brillouin based sensors. This article reports on the derivation of generalized relationships describing the strain sensitivity in terms of acousto-optic effects in optical fibers. In particular, the formulations correspond to polarization maintaining fibers at various polarization angles with respect to the slow axis of the fiber. The scope of research encompassed theoretical and experimental studies involving both single mode as well as polarization maintaining optical fibers subjected to strain under isothermal conditions. A high resolution BOTDA was employed in the experiments in order to verify the validity of theoretical relationships between strain and Brillouin frequency shifts for different polarization angles.