Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing Based on Rayleigh Scattering

Optical fiber sensors offer unprecedented features, the most unique of which is the ability of monitoring variations of the observed physical field with spatial continuity along the fiber. These distributed optical fiber sensors are based on the scattering processes that originate from the interaction between light and matter. Among the three different scattering processes that may take place in a fiber—namely Rayleigh, Raman and Brillouin scattering, this paper focuses on Rayleigh-based distributed optical fiber sensors. For a given optical frequency, Rayleigh-based sensors exploit the three main properties of light: intensity, phase and polarization. All these sensing mechanisms are reviewed, along with basic principles, main acquisition techniques and fields of application. Emphasis, however, will be put on polarization-based distributed optical fiber sensors. While they currently represent a niche, they offer promising unique features worth being considered in greater detail.