Crosstalk and Ghost Gratings in a Large-Scale Weak Fiber Bragg Grating Array

Large-scale distributed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor networks have a wide range of applications. However, serious crosstalk could occur in a near-identical serial FBG sensor network because of multiple reflections. Since crosstalk cannot be observed directly and separately from signal, experimental investigation of crosstalk is challenging. In this work, we point out the similarity and symmetry between crosstalk and ghost gratings, and by way of measuring the spectrum of ghost gratings, we experimentally study the characteristics of crosstalk in a serial array of 3010 near-identical FBGs using a commercial FBG sensor interrogation system. We show that ghost gratings drop much more rapidly in power as one goes downstream, and they are more homogeneous in spectral distribution than real gratings. The peak wavelengths of real gratings vary within ±100 pm while the peak wavelengths of the ghost gratings they generate vary within ±20 pm only. Spectral ripples are observed for ghost gratings and real gratings severely affected by crosstalk. These ripples reduce the FBG wavelength reading accuracy to ±5 pm. The work constitutes the first experimental study on crosstalk in large-scale FBG arrays.