Integrated polymer optical accelerometer

A quad-beam polymer optical accelerometer, based in the modulation of the total losses as a function of the acceleration, is presented in this letter. Three waveguides are defined on the structure: two at the edges and the third in the middle of a movable seismic mass suspended by polymer springs. A displacement of the mass, caused by acceleration, increases the losses due to the misalignment between the waveguides. Optical simulations predict an extremely high optical sensitivity of 11 dB/g. The novelty of the proposed device is the use of polymer as a mechanical/optical material. The sensitivity of the accelerometer has been measured to be at least 6 dB/g, much higher than any previously reported optical accelerometer based on the same operation principle. These results confirm the validity of the proposed high-sensitivity low-cost polymer accelerometer.