Optical fiber hydrophone systems

Optical fiber hydrophone systems have been under research and development for many years. Various sensor head designs and system architectures have been proposed and intensively studied. Some have been tested in the field and have demonstrated excellent performance. However, a number of 368challenges remain for this particular technology to move into commercial applications such as geophysical and seismic hydrophone arrays. This chapter presents a review of the basic principles and techniques of fiber hydrophone systems and their potential applications. We focus on key issues such as the interferometer configuration interrogation/demodulation scheme, multiplexing architecture, polarization-fading mitigation, and system integration, including component selection and sensor head design. We also address recent advances in sources and detectors, fiber optical amplifiers, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) components, optical isolators, and circulators. These significant developments in optical fiber communications will greatly impact the cost effectiveness and system performance of optical fiber hydrophones.