Aston Photonic Technologies Limited

Lorna Anne Everall

Glynn David Lloyd

An optical interrogation systemincludes optical amplifying and gating apparatus, in the form of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)and an optical sourceDrive apparatus(an electrical pulse generator driven by a variable frequency oscillator) is provided to generate electrical drive pulses (see inset (a)) which are applied to the SOA, to cause the SOAto switch on and off. The optical source comprises a super-luminescent diode (SLD), the CW output from which is gated into optical pulses by the SOA. The SOAis optically coupled to the waveguidecontaining an array of reflective optical elements (gratings G) to be interrogated. The interrogation system further includes an optical detector, optically coupled to the SOA, operable to evaluate the wavelength of a returned optical pulse transmitted by the SOA

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Birmingham, United Kingdom

Lorna Anne Everall