Hybrid Integrated Optical Transceiver for Interferometric Fiber-Optic Sensors

To meet the integration requirements of interferometric fiber-optic sensors, a kind of optical transceiver based on the hybrid integration method was proposed. A passive optic chip was used to replace the traditional optical fiber coupler and was coupled with active chips (one laser diode (LD) chip and two detector chips) on a unified platform using spatial micro-optical structures. While compact integration structure has been achieved, the entire optical path was integrally thermally controlled, indicating high environmental adaptability. A set of hybrid integrated optical transceivers (HI-OTRs) was developed and tested. An output split ratio deviation of 5%, a response current difference of 10%, an output power drift of 0.1 mW at normal temperature, and 3% at 0 °C–60 °C, and a center wavelength drift of < 0.43 ppm at 0 °C–60 °C was achieved. Finally, with the HI-OTR, an interferometric fiber-optic microphone (IFOMP) with sensitivity 630 mV/Pa (12.6 times of the sensitivity of a standard microphone) was realized, showing attractive potential.