Brillouin optical correlation domain analysis addressing 440 000 resolution points

The distributed Brillouin analysis of an 8.8-km-long fiber with a spatial resolution of 2 cm is presented. All 440 000 potential resolution points are addressed in the measurement. A 7-cm-long hot-spot, located toward the output end of the pump wave, is properly identified in the experiment. The experimental error in the estimate of the local values of the Brillouin frequency shift is ±3.5 MHz. The analysis is based on the simultaneous generation and analysis of Brillouin interaction in more than 2000 correlation peaks, induced by periodic phase modulation of the pump and signal waves. The Brillouin amplifications at individual peaks are resolved using radar-like coding of pump wave magnitude by a 10000 bit-long aperiodic sequence, and postdetection compression at the receiver end. Extensive numerical simulations of the Brillouin interactions over kilometers of fiber with centimeter resolution are reported as well. The results are at the state of the art for high-resolution distributed Brillouin sensors.