Hybrid OTDR-Fiber Laser System for Remote Sensor Multiplexing

We report the experimental demonstration of a new hybrid multiplexing network for optical fiber sensors using a long-distance multiwavelength lasing system and an optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) to interrogate displacement sensors based on microbenders. With this design, simultaneous interrogation of displacement and temperature is carried out 50 km away from the system header. An improved version of the system which avoids cladding-modes coupling is also presented.