Tunable Mechanical Monolithic Sensor with Interferometric Readout for Low Frequency Seismic Noise Measurement

摘要

This paper describes a mechanical monolithic sensor for geophysical applications developed at the University of Salerno. The instrument is basically a monolithic tunable folded pendulum, shaped with precision machining and electric-discharge-machining, that can be used both as seismometer and, in a force-feedback configuration, as accelerometer. The monolithic mechanical design and the introduction of laser interferometric techniques for the readout implementation make it a very compact instrument, very sensitive in the low-frequency seismic noise band, with a very good immunity to environmental noises. Many changes have been produced since last version (2007), mainly aimed to the improvement of the mechanics and of the optical readout of the instrument. In fact, we have developed and tested a prototype with elliptical hinges and mechanical tuning of the resonance frequency together with a laser optical lever and a new laser interferometer readout system. The theoretical sensitivity curve both for both laser optical lever and laser interferometric readouts, evaluated on the basis of suitable theoretical models, shows a very good agreement with the experimental measurements. Very interesting scientific result, for example, is that the measured natural resonance frequency of the instrument is 70 mHz with a Q = 140 in air without thermal stabilization, demonstrating the feasibility of a monolithic FP sensor with a natural resonance frequency of the order of mHz with a more refined mechanical tuning. Results on the readout system based on polarimetric homodyne Michelson interferometer is discussed.