Stable multi-wavelength erbium fiber ring laser with optical feedback for remote sensing

In this work, we demonstrate a stable fiber sensing system for remote temperature measurements, where the sensing element is an array of four fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and sensor interrogation is achieved with a multi-wavelength erbium fiber ring laser. By introducing a feedback fiber loop in a fiber ring cavity, four laser emission lines were obtained simultaneously in single-longitudinal mode operation (SLM). The power instability obtained was lower than 0.5 dB with an optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) higher than 50 dB for all the emitted wavelengths. The application of this system for remote temperature measurements has been demonstrated even though the SLM regime cannot be preserved.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia through project TEC2013-47264-C2-2-R and the INTERREG SUDOE Project “ECOAL-MGT-Ecological Management of Coal Waste Piles, SOE3/P2/P714”