Jagged appearance of Rayleigh-backscatter signal in ultrahigh-resolution optical time-domain reflectometry based on low-coherence interference

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Abstract
Coherent jagging of the Rayleigh-backscatter signal has been reported by Healey [Electron. Lett. 18, 862 (1982); 20, 30 (1984)] in heterodyne optical time-domain reflectometry. We report that the same phenomenon occurs in ultrahigh-resolution optical time-domain reflectometry based on low-coherence interference. Signal smoothing is an easy way to reveal the desired backscatter signal profile. The bending loss measurement of a single-mode fiber is demonstrated by using the smoothed profile.