Single Point Vibration Analysis with SmarAct's interferometer

Vibrations up to 2.5 MHz can be measured with SmarAct’s Interferometer. Up to 3 stationary laser beams can be directed onto an object to measure vibrations at different positions. Applications include testing of positioning stages and pumps, but also monitoring of machining processes.

  • Contactless measurements with light
  • Measurement bandwidth up to 2.5 MHz (10 MHz sample rate) with a resolution under 1 pm1
  • Measurements possible on most materials (plastic, glass, metal and even water)
  • Vibration analysis in the time or frequency domain
  • Wide range of sensor heads available for different applications and environments (including vacuum and cryogenics)

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1 When analyzing displacements in the frequency domain

Application Examples

Testing a drone motor with single point vibrometry

Vibrations play a critical role in the performance of drones. Material fatigue and the loosening of parts are the most pronounced consequences of vibrations. More subtle effects are poor maneuverability due to vibrating gyroscopes and the reduced quality of video recordings. In this application note, we demonstrate the use of SmarAct’s PICOSCALE Interferometer for the contactless measurement of vibrations generated by a rotor of a commercial drone.

 

Single point vibration measurement on a micro-cantilever

Resonance frequencies and vibration amplitudes can be acurately determined with the PICOSCALE Interferometer. The high bandwidth of the system allows the characterization of very small structures such as the Tungsten micro-cantilever from the example but also the low-frequency vibration of large pumps.

 

Interferometric sound recording with a glass window

The PICOSCALE Interferometer can measure vibrations on almost any material. The extremely high sensitivity even allows to pick up acoustic signals with just a small strip of glass.

 

The working principle and specifications of the PICOSCALE Interferometer can be found on the dedicated product page, here also more application examples are presented.

When 3 measurement points are not enough, SmarAct also offers a scanning vibrometer for vibration measurements up to one megapixel, the solution for the modal analysis at high spatial and temporal resolution for samples such as MEMS, sensors and actuators.