High performance tunable fiber-optic current sensor based on Faraday rotation in toroidal sensing coil
High performance tunable fiber-optic current sensor based on Faraday rotation in toroidal sensing coil
A high performance fiber-optic current sensor (FOCS) based on Faraday rotation in a toroidal sensing coil is proposed and demonstrated. The sensor performance has been improved by forming a toroidal sensing head to experience large magnetomotive force for a very small signal of electric current. In order to improve the sensor performance even further, the effective optical path length is increased by making a fiber coil, and the operating wavelength has been shifted to shorter wavelength (1064 nm) compared to the conventional telecom wavelengths (1550 nm) to benefit from a higher value of Verdet constant in conventional single mode fibers. Several toroid-core structures have been simulated using finite element analysis (COMSOL Multiphysics) to obtain enhanced sensitivity. The FOCS design includes an optimized 3D printed core structure along with toroidal windings and fiber loop inside it. Faraday rotator mirror (FRM) compensates for the birefringence along the sensing arm of the setup, while laser amplitude modulation is implemented using an electro-optic modulator (EOM) to enhance the signal to noise ratio at a particular modulated frequency. The developed FOCS set-up with four layers of copper wire windings in toroidal sensing head configuration is capable of detecting low currents of the order of 50 mA within a tested dynamic range of operation 0-10A. Detection of even lower order current (as low as several mA) could be achieved by tuning the design of sensing head.
Current Sensor, Faraday Rotation, Fiber Optic Sensor, Magneto-Optic Effect, Verdet Constant
Pradhan, Somarpita
49acdab1-62de-409d-8ecf-8d211bbadace
Masoudi, Ali
8073fb9b-2e6c-46c9-89cf-cb8670d76dc0
Brambilla, Gilberto
815d9712-62c7-47d1-8860-9451a363a6c8
2022
Pradhan, Somarpita
49acdab1-62de-409d-8ecf-8d211bbadace
Masoudi, Ali
8073fb9b-2e6c-46c9-89cf-cb8670d76dc0
Brambilla, Gilberto
815d9712-62c7-47d1-8860-9451a363a6c8
Pradhan, Somarpita, Masoudi, Ali and Brambilla, Gilberto
(2022)
High performance tunable fiber-optic current sensor based on Faraday rotation in toroidal sensing coil.
In SPIE Proceedings Optical Sensing and Detection VII.
vol. 12139,
5 pp
.
(doi:10.1117/12.2621221).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
A high performance fiber-optic current sensor (FOCS) based on Faraday rotation in a toroidal sensing coil is proposed and demonstrated. The sensor performance has been improved by forming a toroidal sensing head to experience large magnetomotive force for a very small signal of electric current. In order to improve the sensor performance even further, the effective optical path length is increased by making a fiber coil, and the operating wavelength has been shifted to shorter wavelength (1064 nm) compared to the conventional telecom wavelengths (1550 nm) to benefit from a higher value of Verdet constant in conventional single mode fibers. Several toroid-core structures have been simulated using finite element analysis (COMSOL Multiphysics) to obtain enhanced sensitivity. The FOCS design includes an optimized 3D printed core structure along with toroidal windings and fiber loop inside it. Faraday rotator mirror (FRM) compensates for the birefringence along the sensing arm of the setup, while laser amplitude modulation is implemented using an electro-optic modulator (EOM) to enhance the signal to noise ratio at a particular modulated frequency. The developed FOCS set-up with four layers of copper wire windings in toroidal sensing head configuration is capable of detecting low currents of the order of 50 mA within a tested dynamic range of operation 0-10A. Detection of even lower order current (as low as several mA) could be achieved by tuning the design of sensing head.
Text
SPIE Photonics Europe2022_FullManuscript
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 18 January 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 May 2022
Published date: 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for providing funding to carry out this research. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Martynas Beresna, University of Southampton for his help in 3D printing.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 SPIE.
Keywords:
Current Sensor, Faraday Rotation, Fiber Optic Sensor, Magneto-Optic Effect, Verdet Constant
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 468764
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468764
ISSN: 0277-786X
PURE UUID: 79e45057-5736-47f9-b615-cac3d6020031
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Date deposited: 25 Aug 2022 16:34
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:25
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