High resolution optical time domain reflectometer based on 1.55μm up-conversion photon-counting module

Abstract

We implement a photon-counting Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) at 1.55mum which exhibits a high 2-point resolution and a high accuracy. It is based on a low temporal-jitter photon-counting module at 1.55mum. This detector is composed of a periodically poled Lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide, which provides a wavelength conversion from near infrared to visible light, and a low jitter silicon photon-counting detector. With this apparatus, we obtain centimetre resolution over a measurement range of tens of kilometres.