Photon counts modulation in optical time domain reflectometry

The quantum fluctuation of photon counting limits the field application of optical time domain reflection. A method of photon counts modulation optics time domain reflection with single photon detection at 1.55 μm is presented. The influence of quantum fluctuation can be effectively controlled by demodulation technology since quantum fluctuation shows a uniform distribution in the frequency domain. Combined with the changing of the integration time of the lock-in amplifier, the signal to noise ratio is significantly enhanced. Accordingly the signal to noise improvement ratio reaches 31.7 dB compared with the direct photon counting measurement.