Fiber optic sensing applications

Sensing applications enhanced by specialty optical fibers

Fiber optic sensing is a technology adopted in an ever-increasing number of applications and environments. Using optical fiber properties to gather data, these fiber-optic sensors are useful for measuring pressure, temperature, vibration, position detection, etc. Their implementation requires the long-term reliability of the optical fiber in harsh industrial environments. Coractive provides a range of optical fibers specifically designed for the sensing market.

LiDAR

LiDAR—Light Detection and Ranging—is a remote-sensing technology that uses pulsed laser light to measure ranges to a target. A sensor uses the laser beam reflected off the object to calculate the distance based on the speed of light. LiDAR applications include autonomous vehicles, wind sensing, metrology and defense.

Fiber lasers are the perfect light source due to their compactness, efficiency and thermal properties. As high peak power is desired, fibers with high absorption are then used in order to reduce nonlinear effects.

Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is the study of how light interacts with matter. By using a spectrometer, it is possible to identify the composition of a given target by analyzing the changes that occurred during the interaction of light with the target. Laser spectroscopy has a major impact on the development of new techniques used in various applications in physics, chemistry, biology and medicine.