Developing an environmentally robust optical storage for aerospace (EROS)

Abstract

This thesis investigates the capability of using an optical platform as data storage for calibration data, which is used for harsh environments. The optical device is based on fibre Bragg gratings, which are fabricated with small spot direct ultraviolet writing (SSDUW). Specifically, this work investigated different writing methods for co-locating gratings, aimed to achieve a high grating density to meet the required storage capacity. Colocating more than 40 gratings have been achieved with two different techniques. For read out, a system was chosen that allowed the read out of both the spectral and the spatial domain and was able to differentiate between different grating types, and hence contributing to a larger data storage capacity. The three parameters contributing to the storage capacity per unit length are: number of co-located gratings, the ratio between spectral grating bandwidth and the bandwidth of the light source and the amount of grating types that can be distinguished between each other. In this thesis not only the optical technology behind the storage device was investigated, but also the information technology required to translate calibration data into a spectral pattern and the correction methods to manage errors. Through this work, numerous findings have been made; the evaluation of different inscription methods for co-located fibre Bragg ratings; achieving more than 40 co-located Bragg gratings using SSDUW; the inscription of individual cores of a multicore fibre using SSDUW; the use of machine learning algorithms to identify mechanical vibrational modes of a cantilever; the classification of gratings inscribed with SSDUW into the widely used grating framework.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Senta Lisa Jantzen: orcid.org/0000-0003-2646-7293

ORCID for Christopher Holmes: orcid.org/0000-0001-9021-3760

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