Vibration Sensing with Ultra-High and Tunable Sensitivity Based on a Switchable Loop-Length Optoelectronic Oscillator

This paper proposes a high-sensitivity and sensitivity-tunable vibration sensing system based on a switchable loop length optoelectronic oscillator (OEO). Carrier-sideband separation is realized by using an acousto-optic modulator (AOM), and the resonant cavity length is designed to be independent of the sensing fiber arm. Compared with a conventional 10 GHz OEO under the same total loop delay condition, the proposed architecture provides a theoretical sensitivity enhancement of approximately $1.93\times {10}^4$, without requiring a high RF oscillation frequency. Meanwhile, the system oscillates at only 80 MHz, which greatly reduces the implementation difficulty of the frequency detection circuit. The proposed scheme further introduces a mechanical optical switch (MOS) to select intra-loop fibers of different lengths, thereby reconfiguring the equivalent loop delay and the free spectral range of the OEO. Experimental results show that stable single-mode oscillation is achieved at 80.42 MHz with a side-mode suppression ratio of 51 dB. By selecting loop fiber lengths of 1200 m, 500 m and 0 m, frequency-to-displacement sensitivities of 0.892 GHz/cm, 1.93 GHz/cm and 9.27 GHz/cm are obtained respectively, with excellent linearity. A 600 Hz vibration signal is successfully demodulated with a signal-to-noise ratio of 72.1 dB. The proposed method provides a simple and reconfigurable solution for high-precision vibration measurement under different operating conditions.