Radiation Hardened Architecture of a Single-Ended Raman-Based Distributed Temperature Sensor

Raman-based Distributed Temperature Sensors (RDTS) allow performing spatially resolved (1 m) reliable temperature measurements over several km long Optical Fibers (OFs). These systems are based on the temperature dependence of the intensities of both the Stokes and anti-Stokes components of the Raman back-scattered signal. One of the specific issues associated with RDTS technology in radiation environments is the differential Radiation Induced Attenuation (RIA) between the two components that induces huge errors in the temperature evaluation. Such problem is particularly evident for commercially available single-ended DTS using one laser source. Double-ended configuration could be used to correct for the differential attenuation but are limited by RIA in terms of sensing range. In the present work, we show how a Radiation-Hardened-by-Design DTS (RHD-DTS) overcomes the observed radiation issues keeping the single-ended interrogation scheme. In the tested RHD-DTS two infrared excitation laser sources (~1550 nm and ~1650 nm) are employed: the wavelength of the Stokes component due to the first excitation source coincides with the wavelength of the second excitation; vice versa, the wavelength of the anti-Stokes component due to the second excitation source coincides with the wavelength of the first excitation. The overall result is that the two signal intensities are automatically corrected for the differential RIA all along the OF sensor length and the temperature measurements becomes robust against radiation effects. This study demonstrates the potential of such a sensor by reporting preliminary experimental results obtained with a prototype developed by Viavi Solutions exploiting radiation-sensitive or radiation-hardened optical fibers.