A 1-mm-diameter fiber-optic photoreceiver with a side-surface interface is proposed. By controlling the scattering part embedded in the fiber, the receiving sensitivity along the fiber's axis is successfully flattened over a 5-m-length. The simulation results suggest a potential for a large-area photo-detector of $sim$ 3-m-spherical diameter.

A novel technique is proposed for measuring the distributed strain and temperature in a fiber with a very high resolution. This technique makes use of the jagged appearance of Rayleigh backscatter traces from a single-mode fiber measured by using a coherent OTDR with a precisely frequency-controlled light source. Our preliminary experiment indicated the possibility of measuring temperature with a resolution of better than 0.01 and a spatial resolution of one meter. This temperature resolution is two orders of magnitude better than that provided by Brillouin-based distributed sensors.

This paper describes a fiber-optic level sensor designed to measure the level of liquid propane-butane in a relatively short range (60 cm) in the top part of storage tanks at oil refineries with the purpose of monitoring the level of this product in the filled or slightly underfilled or overfilled tanks during various measuring operations. A discrete multi-element device employing novel refractometric transducers was selected because it yields both a large measurement range and high resolution. Several innovations offer a competitive advantage to industrial users: 1) Special micro-optical refractometric transducer; 2) Efficient and economical sensor multiplexing scheme; 3) Fast level-tracking operational algorithm. The vertical resolution of the sensor -1 cm, the maximum excess pressure in the tank -40 atm (4 MPa). The sensor has the spark-proof and explosion-proof design and optical fiber interface for the transmission of the output data. The sensor successfully measured liquid propane-butane level in storage tanks during numerous cycles of measuring operations.

In the paper, a theoretical and experimental investigation of a new type of the in-line optical fiber ellipsometer is described. The discussed device, based on the Sagnac interferometer, has the possibility to detect the changes of full polarisation state. The detection of the polarisation state in real time by a system containing standard single-mode fiber and an appropriate applied modulation technique is a new system property. The device uses interferometric measurement technique based on the fourth Fresnel-Arago's condition, which secures very good system accuracy and stability, also presented in the paper.

The technique used is based on thermal optical activity measurement of temperature combined with electric-field-induced polarization modulation of the input light. Quartz is used as the sensing element. A 1/4 wave plate is placed behind the quartz so that a single sensing head can simultaneously output two signals: one includes the Pockels effect for voltage measurement; the other optical activity for the temperature measurement. The operating principle of the sensor which detects voltage and temperature is presented theoretically and experimentally. The technique for separating voltage and temperature from the signals is analyzed theoretically and experimentally. It was found that the sensitivity of the voltage sensor to temperature depends on the magnitudes of voltage applied to it. To realize temperature compensation over a full range, two key parameters must be obtained: one is the response of the voltage sensor to temperature when the applied voltage is zero; another is the response of the sensing material to temperature when a certain voltage is applied. In the absence of electrogyration the effect of voltage on the temperature sensor may be neglected. The technique was demonstrated using a fiber-optic voltage sensor with temperature compensation. The sensor offered a voltage measurement range of 0-10 kV, and a temperature stability of 0.4% within the temperature range of 20-70.

We have proposed a multiplexed fiber-optic sensor system using an optical loop with a frequency shifter. The measured output power spectrum of the system has shown that the multiprexed signals superimpose upon a noise pedestal which is like a series of hill peaks. In this paper, the output power spectrum is theoretically analyzed from the output intensity autocor-relation function. It displays that the noise pedestal originates from the laser phase-induced intensity noise. The noise level depends on the coherence time of the laser source. The positions of peaks are decided by the working frequency of the frequency shifter in the optical loop. The sensitivity of the system are related to the bandwidth B, the coherence time Tc, the sensor number n to be multiplexed, the loop loss α, and the fiber coupler parameters. Properly choosing these parameters is beneficial to improve the sensitivity of system.