TY - JOUR

T1 - 3D shape sensor based on discrete-point Rayleigh reflectors inscribed by femtosecond pulses in multicore fibers

AU - Munkueva, Zh

AU - Dostovalov, A.

AU - Bronnikov, K.

AU - Golikov, E.

AU - Egorova, O.

AU - Semjonov, S.

AU - Babin, S.

N1 - Funding: Russian Science Foundation (21–72–30024). The work of KB was financially supported by ITMO Fellowship Program.

PY - 2024/12/1

Y1 - 2024/12/1

N2 - Fiber optic sensors which use reflectometry methods to process Rayleigh backscattering signal, are susceptible to any optical losses due to the inherently low level of Rayleigh backscattering in standard telecom optical fibers. In this work, we fabricate and study the shape sensor based on a multicore optical fiber with randomly spaced discrete-point reflectors inscribed in its cores by femtosecond laser pulses. By testing the sensor on different 3D shape samples, we demonstrate the robustness of the shape reconstruction accuracy to introduced optical losses of the signal up to 20 dB with the relative reconstruction error being less than 4 %. In contrast, such level of optical losses dramatically increases the reconstruction error when the unmodified fiber cores are used. A higher signal-to-noise ratio together with low birefringence of the inscribed point reflectors enable accurate shape sensing including the forms with low curvature.

AB - Fiber optic sensors which use reflectometry methods to process Rayleigh backscattering signal, are susceptible to any optical losses due to the inherently low level of Rayleigh backscattering in standard telecom optical fibers. In this work, we fabricate and study the shape sensor based on a multicore optical fiber with randomly spaced discrete-point reflectors inscribed in its cores by femtosecond laser pulses. By testing the sensor on different 3D shape samples, we demonstrate the robustness of the shape reconstruction accuracy to introduced optical losses of the signal up to 20 dB with the relative reconstruction error being less than 4 %. In contrast, such level of optical losses dramatically increases the reconstruction error when the unmodified fiber cores are used. A higher signal-to-noise ratio together with low birefringence of the inscribed point reflectors enable accurate shape sensing including the forms with low curvature.

KW - 3D shape sensor

KW - Fs-laser induced refractive index change

KW - Rayleigh backscattering

UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85205597203&origin=inward&txGid=fc0b4f559d770994633d6dee79ac2ef8

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/a456950a-ff8c-3208-bd07-99f7abf952b8/

U2 - 10.1016/j.sna.2024.115946

DO - 10.1016/j.sna.2024.115946

M3 - Article

VL - 379

JO - Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical

JF - Sensors and Actuators, A: Physical

SN - 0924-4247

M1 - 115946

ER -