Detection in Harsh Environments

Optical fibres in harsh environment or harsh external conditions can be in general defined as devices operating in environments (surrounding conditions) that are different than normally applied to standard telecommunication fibres, i.e. conditions beyond the limits encountered for regular telecommunication and equipment for fibre data links. Many market sectors, civil and military engineering, and several scientific fields have already increased use of harsh‐environment‐operating sensors for a few decades. The growth rate of the optical fibre sensors (OFS) world market accelerates during the last several years. Among these numerous fields and stakeholders, one of the key beneficiaries of using harsh‐environment‐resistant optical fibre sensing systems is the oil and gas industry. In most cases of harsh‐environment‐resistant OFSs, the fibres based on silica glass (fused silica, fused quartz) are applied.