Laser interferometry is one of the most sensitive methods for small displacement measurement for scientific and industrial applications, whose wide diffusion in very different fields is due not only to the high sensitivity and reliability of laser interferometric techniques, but also to the availability of not expensive optical components and high quality low-cost laser sources. Interferometric techniques have been already successfully applied also to the design and implementation of very sensitive sensors for geophysical applications. In this paper we describe the architecture and the expected theoretical performances of a laser interferometric velocimeter for seismic waves measurement. We analyze and discuss the experimental performances of the interferometric system, comparing the experimental results with the theoretical predictions and with the performances of a state-of the art commercial accelerometer. The results obtained are very encouraging, so that we are upgrading the system in order to measure the local acceleration of the mirrors and beam splitter of the velocimeter using an ad hoc designed monolithic accelerometers for low frequency direct measurement of the seismic noise.

Date Published: 8 April 2008
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 6932, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2008, 69320L (8 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.772197

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6932:
Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2008
Masayoshi Tomizuka, Editor(s)