Felipe Guzman Cervantes, Lee Kumanchik, Jon Pratt, Jacob Taylor
The reflection spectrum of an optical cavity is exquisitely sensitive to length variations, enabling precise and accurate displacement measurements. When combined with mechanical oscillators, such cavities can yield accelerometers of unprecedented resolution. Previously, accelerometer sensitivity enhancements were achieved by lowering the sensor's natural frequency and bandwidth. Detection near the thermal limit was achieved, but at high acceleration levels due to low oscillator mass. We present a novel self-calibrating accelerometer, capable of reaching nano-gn/rtHz sensitivities (micro-Gal/rtHz -- 1gn=9.81 m/s^2 -- equivalent displacement of attometer/rtHz) over a bandwidth of several kHz, and compare its accuracy to a calibrated commercial system. It consists of a compact (10.6 x 15 mm), high-mQ (5kg) fused-silica oscillator that utilizes fiber-optic micro-mirror cavities, for self-calibrated detection of the motions of its test-mass. This device provides a substantial improvement over conventional systems in accelerometry, standards and calibrations, opto-mechanics, seismology and gravimetry.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.1188
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