Distributed temperature sensing on silicon-on-insulator chip by optical frequency domain reflectometry

This study introduces a novel distributed temperature sensing (DTS) technique on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) chips by the optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) technology. In contrast to traditional on-chip silicon photonics temperature sensors which rely on transmission spectrum detection, this method is based on Rayleigh backscatter induced by the sidewall roughness of as-fabricated waveguides, eliminating the need for a specially designed structure. On-chip DTS results with a remarkable sensing spatial resolution of 200