Stimulated Brillouin scattering-induced phase noise in an interferometric fiber sensing system

Stimulated Brillouin scattering-induced phase noise is harmful to interferometric fiber sensing systems. The localized fluctuating model is used to study the intensity noise caused by the stimulated Brillouin scattering in a single-mode fiber. The phase noise structure is analyzed for an interferometric fiber sensing system, and an unbalanced Michelson interferometer with an optical path difference of 1 m, as well as the phase-generated carrier technique, is used to measure the phase noise. It is found that the phase noise is small when the input power is below the stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold, increases dramatically at first and then gradually becomes flat when the input power is above the threshold, which is similar to the variation in relative intensity noise. It can be inferred that the increase in phase noise is mainly due to the broadening of the laser linewidth caused by stimulated Brillouin scattering, which is verified through linewidth measurements in the absence and presence of the stimulated Brillouin scattering.