Optomechanical Accelerometers for Geodesy

We present a novel optomechanical inertial sensor for low-frequency applications and corresponding acceleration measurements. This has resonant frequency of 4.715 (1) Hz, mechanical quality factor 4.76(3) × 105, test mass 2.6 g, projected noise floor approximately 5 10−11 ms−2/Hz at 1 Hz. Such performance, together with its small size, low weight, reduced power consumption, susceptibility to environmental variables such as magnetic field or drag conditions makes it an attractive technology future space geodesy missions. In this paper, we experimental demonstration ground seismic detection by direct comparison commercial seismometer, data analysis algorithms the identification, characterization, correction several sources.