Fabry-Perot Interferometry for Accelerometers
Physical Measurement Laboratory, Quantum Measurement Division
NIST only participates in the February and August reviews.
As part of the “NIST-on-a-chip” program, we are designing and building chip-scale accelerometers as field-deployable SI-traceable standards. The accelerometers employ a micromechanical structure in conjunction with a Fabry-Perot cavity for high-speed optical readout. With cavity lengths on the order of a millimeter and frequency excursions in the GHz range, SI-traceable readout presents some interesting challenges. We are presently exploring a variety of readout techniques, involving tunable lasers, electro- and acousto-optic modulators, and frequency combs. This work involves a close collaboration between the Quantum Measurement Division and the Engineering Physics Division.