Optical vibration sensor based on Michelson interferometer arrangement with polarization-maintaining fibers

Abstract

Nowadays, the interferometric sensors belong to the one of the most accurate, thanks to its great sensitivity. With their help we are able to measure temperature, strain, level, flow, vibration, stress, etc. For its operation the Michelson interferometer consist of the two arms terminated by mirrors, by which is possible to measure generated phase shift in the individual arms. Furthermore, polarization maintaining fibers were used. With this setup we will examine the effects of vibration and also how is this sensor influenced by the different setup arrangement and how it will manifest its frequency response. It is important to isolate the reference arm to increase the sensitivity of the measurement and the subsequent effect on the maximum phase shift and maximum frequencies response. In this work, we are going to describe various combinations of the arrangement of the measuring and reference arm and their effect on the sensitivity of different measured phenomena. Subsequently obtained frequency bands are evaluated for these various configurations and materials.