Evaluating Phase Errors in Phase-Sensitive Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry Based on I/Q Demodulation

The phase errors resulting from in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) demodulation in phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (φOTDR) are investigated theoretically, numerically, and experimentally for two phase recovery schemes: one employing Kramers-Kronig (KK)-based coherent detection, and a second one based on a direct-detection scheme using an imbalanced Mach- Zehnder interferometer, a 3 × 3 coupler and 3 photodetectors. Mathematical models for the estimation of the differential phase variance are proposed and experimentally validated for these two schemes. The probability density function of the phase variance verifies an uneven longitudinal distribution of the phase errors in the two cases. Results point out that KK-based φOTDR sensors have no special advantages in terms of noise performance compared to standard full I/Q coherent detection, so that large phase errors can be verified at fading locations, leading to severe phase unwrapping problems. On the contrary, the direct-detection scheme based on interferometer is highly dependent on the signal difference between photodetectors, showing higher robustness against fading even if its probability density function is wider than the KK-based case. Experimental results also show the advantages of selecting data points with high in-phase and quadrature amplitudes to achieve reliable vibration measurements, especially in KK-based φOTDR sensors.