Self-mixing vibration measurement using emission frequency sinusoidal modulation

In this paper, a simplified phase demodulation scheme is applied to recover vibration trail on a laser self-mixing interferometer for noncontact vibration measurement. The emission of semiconductor laser diode is modulated by injecting sinusoidal wave, and corresponding interference signal is a quasi-sinusoid wave. The vibration mathematical model for semiconductor laser diode is theoretically educed from basic self-mixing theory, the variation of target is converted into phase information. The simulation of demodulation algorithm and standard deviation are presented and the reconstructed waveform displays a desirable consistence with various moving trails. Following the principle, a minimum experimental system is established and position variation of the target mirror driven by voltage signal is translated into phase shifts, feedback is controlled at weak level during experiment, Fourier transform is implemented to analyze phase information. The comparisons of both amplitude and velocity with a Germany Doppler vibrometer are performed to testify vibration model, the error of proposed demodulation method is less than 30 nm and achieve a high accuracy in vibration frequency. The experimental results indicate the traditional phase technology can be applied on complex optical power signal after adaption providing a feasible application prospects in industrial and scientific situation with an inexpensive semiconductor laser.