A Novel three-component hybrid-integrated Optical Accelerometer Based on a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer with a LiNbO3 Photoelastic Waveguide

An investigation of the properties of a LiNbO3 photoelastic waveguide via the acceleration-induced effect is presented. A novel three-component hybrid-integrated optical accelerometer based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a LiNbO3 photoelastic waveguide has been designed, which is capable of detecting seismic acceleration in high-accuracy seismic exploration. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer was successfully fabricated and a lighting test used to check its quality. The frequency response characteristic of the accelerometer was measured. The accelerometer with a resonant frequency of 3549 Hz was demonstrated to show good linear frequency responding characteristics in the range of 100∼3000 Hz. The accelerometer also shows good stability and consistency. Experimental results indicate that the outputs of the on- and cross-axis are 147 and 21.3 mV, respectively.