Evaluation of the Performance of Distributed Temperature Measurements With Single-Mode Fiber Using Rayleigh Backscatter up to 1000$^{\circ}{\rm C}$

In this paper, inexpensive single-mode silica optical fibers were interrogated with Luna Innovations' optical backscatter reflectometer to perform distributed temperature measurements at temperatures up to 1000 °C. Measurements of the Rayleigh backscattered signal were taken continuously to determine the amount of light that is backscattered as a function of temperature and position along the length of the fiber. These data were post-processed to determine the spectral shift in the Rayleigh backscatter signature. The spectral shift data were then calibrated to a change in temperature. This paper determines an upper operational temperature limit of 650 °C for the distributed measurement technique based on Rayleigh backscatter using Corning's SMF-28e
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commercially available single-mode fiber.