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I work with highly coherent laser light 1550 nm source traveling through singlemode fiber. EOM creates laser pulses ~100 ns length corresponding to $m\approx 10$ m length of pulse. I can tune laser temperature (so $\Delta k$) but this takes seconds of time, which is enough for fiber temperature to change, thus it is unusable for fiber structure research. Detector can give me direct intensity of rayleigh scattered back light with some discretization frequency corresponding to meters of fiber. As I understand, I can model this signal using bilinear forms. How can I extract that bilinear form?

Let's define the phase increment from the laser wavelength (or wavenumber) shift on unit length $\phi \equiv n\,(k_0+\Delta k) $.

Field vector with amplitudes $A_j$ and phase factors $\exp(\mathrm{i} j \phi)$ $$ E(k=k_0+\Delta k)=\begin{bmatrix} A_1 e^{\mathrm{i}\phi}\\ A_2 e^{\mathrm{i}2\phi}\\ \vdots\\ A_m e^{\mathrm{i}m\phi} \end{bmatrix}.$$

Total field as a coherent sum $$E_{\rm tot}(k_0+\Delta k)=\mathbf{1}^\top \mathbf{E}(k_0+\Delta k), \qquad \mathbf{1}= \begin{bmatrix} 1\\ \vdots\\ 1 \end{bmatrix}. $$

Intensity as a Hermitian quadratic (bilinear) form $$ I(k_0+\Delta k)=\left|E_{\rm tot}(k_0+\Delta k)\right|^2 =\mathbf{E}(k_0+\Delta k)^\dagger\,\mathbf{1}\mathbf{1}^\top\,\mathbf{E}(k_0+\Delta k), \qquad \mathbf{1}\mathbf{1}^\top= \begin{bmatrix} 1&1&\cdots&1\\ 1&1&\cdots&1\\ \vdots&\vdots&\ddots&\vdots\\ 1&1&\cdots&1 \end{bmatrix}. $$

Equivalent expanded bilinear sum $$ I(k_0+\Delta k)=\sum_{p=1}^m\sum_{q=1}^m A_p^*A_q\,e^{i(q-p)\phi}. $$

On the other hand, in reality bilinear $M_{pq}$ form does not consist of just ones, but represent additional phase differences due to irregularity if refraction index:

$$M_{pq} \sim \exp\left[\mathrm{i}k\int_p^q \delta n(l)\ dl\right]$$

Also, I can quickly change two different impulse forms $A_j$ and represent amlitude/wavelength changes as another diagonal matrix. How can I extract bilinear form matrix?

For clarity, I can modify impulse length and therefore it's shape changes: 10 m pulse shape 9 m pulse shape

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  • $\begingroup$ What’s an EOM? What sort of fiber makes a 100 ns pulse only 10 m long? I see you say approximately 10 m, but that’s like a factor of two less than expected. Does that count as approximately? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 12 at 23:09
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    $\begingroup$ EOM is electro-optic modulator? $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 12 at 23:38
  • $\begingroup$ @kangermu Yeah you are right, it should be 20 m approximately $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 13 at 0:55
  • $\begingroup$ @Ed V yes, it creates nearly Gaussian wave, that I can see on reflectogram. I can quickly switch it's length between two values, for example $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 13 at 0:56
  • $\begingroup$ The thing is, I created algorithm to extract all fields and phases, but it requires quick change of wavelength and my boss is too lazy to implement that via laser current modulation. He wants me to extract all fields just with two impulses switching, but as I understand there is not enough information in this data. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 13 at 1:00

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IMHO better experiment always trumps better data extraction, so I would try to get more data.

You could look at time-dependent intensity, if your laser coherence time is long enough for you to observe changing intensity due to this, it would help you to draw inferences about changes in relative phases of your decomposition.

You can also pass light through multiple paths, e.g. multiple fibres and then join it back to get interferometric results. This will also rely on coherence length

You can try using polarisation. If the light you are launching into the fibre is of fixed polarisation, and fibre is not polarisation maintaining, you can extract both polarisations of light on the other side, and make deductions from their relative intensity.

You can put a partially reflecting mirror at the end of the fibre and look at the interference of light that passed through the fibre one or multiple times.

You said that light is modulated by EOM. Can you modify the shape of the modulated pulses? Together with the methods above it can give you even more information.

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  • $\begingroup$ The problem is, I can't modify reflectometer at all, my company is very stubborn at modifying existing devices, so boss is asking to use only direct intensity data. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 13 at 16:03
  • $\begingroup$ Can you resolve changes in intensity on the scale of coherence time at least? @AslanMonahov $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 13 at 16:41
  • $\begingroup$ Laser source linewidth is 100 kHz, so coherence time is very big compared to sampling frequency, pulse duration and etc $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 13 at 16:49

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