An optical fibre sensor for dynamic deformation measurements based on the intensity modulation of a low-coherence source

An optical fibre sensing technique for the measurement of dynamic deformations using a Michelson interferometer is reported. The method applied to interferometers with an initial path unbalance of around 1 cm is based on the rf intensity modulation of a low-coherence source. A large measurement range of 1 cm is intrinsic to the method and with an adequate demodulation process sensitivity better than 10 μm is obtained. This novel approach allows for measuring dynamic deformations with a bandwidth up to 100 Hz.