Additional projects / Optics & light
Compact acoustic interferometer
A small optical prototype intended to translate sound-driven mirror motion into changes in an interference pattern.
Open the numbered review →Prototype views
Photos 454–456
A compact acoustic-sensor prototype based on a Michelson interferometer. A beam splitter sent light along two paths, one to a reference mirror and one to a mirror on a flexible silicone membrane. The returning beams were intended to form bright and dark interference bands. Sound moving the membrane would shift those bands, providing a possible way to detect its motion. The prototype still needed further refinement.
Another view of the acoustic interferometer. A first-surface mirror was carried by a thick silicone membrane and held in place using magnets on opposite sides. The aim was for small sound-driven movements of that mirror to change the interference pattern when its light recombined with the reference beam.
A further view of the acoustic interferometer. A light detector behind a small hole in the viewing plate was intended to sense alternating bright and dark bands as the interference pattern moved. The idea was to turn those brightness changes into an electrical signal related to membrane motion; the detector type and measured performance are unconfirmed.