Fiber bragg grating sensors: Recent advancements, industrial applications and market exploitation

Abstract

The field of fiber optics has undergone tremendous growth over the past 40 years. Initially conceived as a medium to carry light and images for medical endoscopic applications, optical fibers were later proposed in the mid 1960's as an information-carrying medium for telecommunication applications. The outstanding success of this concept is embodied in millions of miles of telecommunications fiber that have spanned the earth, the seas, and utterly transformed our capacity to communicate and the means by which we do it. The award of the 2009 Nobel Prize in physics to C. K. Kao, who first proposed the use of optical fibers for data communication, is the crowning jewel on this fantastic story. Among the reasons why optical fibers are such an attractive communication medium are their low loss, high bandwidth, electromagnetic interference immunity, small size, light weight, safety, relatively low cost, low maintenance, etc. © 2011 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.