MEMS accelerometer embedded in a self-mixing displacement sensor for parasitic vibration compensation.

A self-mixing (SM) laser displacement sensor coupled with a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) accelerometer is presented that enables reliable displacement measurements even in the case of a nonstationary laser head. The proposed technique allows the use of SM-based sensors for embedded applications. The system resolution is currently limited to approximately 300 nm due to the noise characteristics of the currently used accelerometer. It is shown that this resolution can be greatly improved by the use of a low noise accelerometer.