A novel interferometric vibration measurement sensor with quadrature detection based on 1/8 wave plate

In-phase and quadrature-phase (I/Q) signals often need to be formed in the laser interferometric vibration measurement technique. To avoid the disadvantages of traditional I/Q signals forming methods such as effect of piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) for generating high frequency carrier, or optical configuration with complicated structure, a novel interferometric vibration measurement sensor with quadrature detection is proposed. The sensor utilizes simple optical configuration which contains 1/8 wave plate to generate two I/Q signals, then the signals were processed by arctangent algorithm which is compiled by Labview software through data acquisition card. Theoretical analysis and experimental Lissajous figures synthesis prove the phase orthogonality of the two signals. The experimental results indicate that the system can measure the vibration displacement accurately.