A consequence of the development of optical fibre technology for communications has been the application of optical fibres to the sensing of a wide range of physical and chemical parameters. Any of the properties of fibres that are important for communications are significant for sensing: these include their small dimensions, their insulating nature and their immunity to high voltage and electromagnetic noise. These attributes make them particularly attractive for diagnostics of plasmas and electrical discharge.s As insulators, optical fibres create none of the electrical disturbance or breakdown problems often associated with metal probes, and their small dimensions mean that distortion of plasma or discharge structure is minimised. With may plasmas and discharges occurring in environments that are electromagnetically noisy and which involve high voltages, signal transfer and processing through optical fibres provides significant benefits. The small dimensions of optical fibres provide good spatial resolution, and their facility for remote sensing can be particularly useful when working with large-scale systems.
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