Development of femtosecond random gratings for fiber laser and sensor applications

We report the use of a femtosecond infrared (fs-IR) laser to produce random grating structures in optical fibers for fiber sensor and fiber laser applications. The plane-by-plane method of inscribing various gratings is presented. We review our experimental results over the past 5 years of the applications of fiber random gratings for distributed temperature measurements, fiber lasers and fiber laser sensors. The potential applications of fs-IR laser processed optical fibers in structure health monitoring, harsh environment sensing, perimeter intrusion detection and encrypted communication will be discussed.

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