Dynamic strain signals are important for many structural monitoring applications, but the high-speed interrogation of strain sensors based on fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) remains a challenge. Arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) interrogation schemes have been proposed, and by using modelling and validation experiments several design considerations are investigated and their relationship to system performance indicators determined. The Bragg grating length has an impact on the ability of the grating to ‘observe’ the transient strain field, while the spectral widths of both the FBG and AWG influence the recovered strain resolution. The system performance was examined for both high frequency noise as well as the long-term drifts over an hour, with a strain resolution of 1.4 µε observed and drift of less than 3.1 µε h−1. The noise dependence on the relative overlap of the AWG and FBG spectra was found to be significant and the inclusion of a semiconductor optical amplifier to boost light intensity at the detectors was found to significantly improve performance with an improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio up to 200%.

Pumping a nonlinear germanosilicate fiber with intense near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses for supercontinuum generation may invoke multiphoton-assisted photosensitivity of glasses to write a long-period fiber grating. In sharp contrast to the spontaneous formation of a Hill grating that resonates with the writing wavelength through first-order diffraction, the long-period fiber grating resonates with the writing wavelength through second-order diffraction. This finding highlights the surprising light-matter interaction in a waveguide.

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