Towards fully distributed amplification and high-performance long-range distributed sensing based on random fiber laser

Abstract

The random distributed feedback fiber laser (RDFB-FL), firstly proposed and demonstrated by S. K. Turitsyn et al., has been designated as the significant breakthrough in the fields of laser physics and nonlinear optics. In this paper, the fully distributed Raman amplification approach, based on the novel concept of RDFB-FL, is proposed and presented for the first time. As a typical proof-of-concept, the high-performance distributed sensing with ±1°C temperature accuracy and ±2m spatial resolution, over entire 122km long-range Brillouin optical time-domain analyzer (BOTDA), has been demonstrated using the fully distributed second-order Raman amplification based on RDFB-FL proposed. The experimental results confirmed its unique ultra-low noise performance for the proposed distributed amplification. We believe it's the best sensing result for such a length of BOTDA so far. The underlined physical mechanisms associated with its quasi-lossless transmission and partial coherence characteristics, are also presented, in order to account for this much attractive feature.