Engineering Commons^™

Fiber Optic Fluid Level Sensor, Navid Ghandeharioun

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

A fiber optic fluid level sensor based on light transmission attenuation due to bending losses is designed, built and tested.

Fibers formed with reverse curvatures of decreasing radii will induce and increasing amount of lower order mode light loss to the cladding as the light propagates along the step index multimode fiber. The sensor is arranged in the fluid in a vertical position such that the light travels along the fiber from the bottom or low fluid point to the top or full point. As the fluid covers increasing lengths of the exposed fiber, it strips even more power from …

Survey Of Fiber Optic Connectors And Cables, John B. Ostlund

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

Today the world of fiber optics is bigger than ever. What is available to the engineer and the technician is now only apparent to the well informed. Not all engineers and technicians have a background or an education in the field of fiber optics. This report is intended to be an informative preliminary guide to those readers whose interest lies in the field of fiber optics.

The advantages of fiber optic systems are discussed and compared to conventional systems. Although a fiber optic system includes transmitters and receivers, this report concentrates primarily on fiber optic connectors and cables. It also …

Fiber Optic Temperature Sensors For A Large Electric Power Generator, Daniel A. Lester

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

Fiber optic temperature sensors are excellent candidates for monitoring the temperature along the stator windings of a large electric power generator. Unlike thermocouple thermometers, they are immune to the effects of strong magnetic fields which are present in all power generators. Several different point and line sensors have been evaluated in their ability to resolve temperature and temperature distribution (respectively), as well as their compatibility with the generator environment. The sensor must function inside the generator for long periods of time (up to 25 years) without benefit of recalibration. This constraint has required us to devise methods by which the …

On The Theory And Experimental Results Of A Sensitive Fiber Optic Laser Accelerometer, Steven C. Furlong

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Ten Kilometer Transmission System Fiber Optics Versus Ku-Band, John A. Hallmark

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

This research paper discusses the design evaluation and selection of a transmission system to be used in checking out the Spacelab high rate data system. The transmission systems evaluated are discussed, as well as the criteria utilized in selecting the final system. The installation of a fiber optics cable and the testing of this cable are discussed. The determination of the optimum location of the high rate data bit synchronizer and Viterbi decoder is presented. Utilization of this data to justify the installation of a shorter fiber optics system inside the O&C Building is presented.

Optical Fiber Dispersion Characterization, Alan Edward Geeslin

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the dispersion of optical pulses in fiber waveguides. Procedures for determining the transfer function of an optical fiber using either time domain measurements or frequency domain measurements are given. A test set is described which uses time domain measurements for dispersion characterization. Complex transfer function data are presented for various fiber lengths as well as optical connectors. Prediction of bandwidths of long fibers from bandwidth/measurements taken on shorter length fibers is discussed. A relation between the bandwidth of cascaded connectors in terms of the bandwidth of a single connector is obtained.

Coupling Efficiency And Alignment Sensitivity Of Single Mode Optical Fibers, James Mathew Martin

Retrospective Theses and Dissertations

Coupling efficiency an alignment sensitivity models for the coupling of light from a fundamental mode Gaussian light beam into a single mode optical fiber are given. Experimental results are presented which verify the coupling and misalignment predictions of the models. Data were taken at two wavelengths: 0.6328 and 0.8460 micrometers. The light sources were a HeNe laser and a GaAlAs laser respectively. Coupling efficiencies were measured versus beam spot size; and lateral, axial and angular misalignments of the beam and fiber axes.