Abstract

This paper presents a novel technique for the measurement of accelerations using an optical-fiber accelerometer based on the analysis of polarization variations. The technique relies on the identification of six parameters of the fiber Mueller matrix through polarimetric measurements. We demonstrate by theoretical and experimental work that the sensitivity of the proposed method does not depend on the input polarization states sent into the fiber nor on the intrinsic fiber birefringence. The sensor has been successfully tested for acceleration amplitudes between 2.5 and $20\mathrm{m}/{\mathrm{s}}^2$ at a frequency of 120 Hz. The acceleration resolution increases from $0.1\mathrm{m}/{\mathrm{s}}^2$ around an acceleration of $2.5\mathrm{m}/{\mathrm{s}}^2$ to $0.35\mathrm{m}/{\mathrm{s}}^2$ around $20\mathrm{m}/{\mathrm{s}}^2$. The acceleration measurements can be performed every 160 μs.

© 2014 Optical Society of America

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