Continuous-wave fiber cavity ring-down measurements using frequency-shifted interferometry.

We present a spatial-domain fiber cavity ring-down (CRD) technique that does not require optical pulses for time-resolved detection. Instead of measuring the intensity decay rate of an optical pulse in the time domain as in conventional CRD experiments, we measure the decay rate of a CW signal in a ring-down cavity (RDC) using frequency-shifted interferometry in the spatial domain, as a function of distance traveled by the light. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we measured fiber bend loss in a loop RDC using this technique, and a cavity loss change as low as 0.0135 dB induced by every fiber turn on a mandrel was unambiguously discerned.