The influence of the laser frequency drift on the operation of phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (Φ-OTDR) systems is considered. Theoretical results based on a new numerical Φ-OTDR model demonstrating the influence of the laser frequency instability on a signal are reported. This model is verified based on experimental data. It has been used to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system for different parameters of the laser source stability. As a result, quantitative requirements for lasers used in Φ-OTDR systems are formulated.
@article{arxiv.1604.08854,
title = {Influence of the laser frequency drift in phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry},
author = {A. A. Zhirnov and K. V. Stepanov and A. O. Chernutsky and A. K. Fedorov and E. T. Nesterov and C. Svelto and A. B. Pnev and V. E. Karasik},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.08854},
year = {2020}
}