Design of an optical mechanical accelerometer with optical frequency comb enhancement for sensitivity improvement

¹ National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of RF Integration and Micro-assembly Technology, College of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering (College of Industry Education Integration), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications - Nanjing, 210003, China
² Portland Institute, College of Telecommunications and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications - Nanjing, 210003, China
³ State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications - Beijing, 100876, China
⁴ SiliconPlux Co. Ltd. - Hefei, 230091, China
⁵ School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University - Nanjing, 210023, China

Received: 17 May 2025
Accepted: 27 November 2025

Abstract

Micro-nano photomechanical accelerometers have the advantages of small size, high sensitivity, low cost, high reliability, low power consumption, and can be mass-manufactured, and are widely used in automotive, industrial production, aerospace and many other fields. However, the sensitivity of accelerometers is not sufficiently high. The utilization of optical frequency combs can effectively enhance the sensitivity of accelerometers and also improve their precision. Based on the mechanical properties of Si racetrack resonator, a kind of accelerometer with fixed beam structure is designed by using semiconductor micro-nano machining technology. The output signal of accelerometer based on fixed beam structure has a linear relationship with the measured acceleration intensity, and an acceleration sensor structure is proposed. By analyzing the spectral characteristics of the racetrack microring resonator, the acceleration value of the system is measured by using the offset characteristic of the output spectrum under the action of acceleration. Simulation results show that the sensitivity of the system can reach 150 pm /g. In addition, a method based on frequency comb source is proposed, which reduces the uncertainty of resonant frequency difference and improves the accuracy of acceleration determination compared with a single input light source. This structure provides a theoretical basis for the preparation of highly integrated and low-cost micro-acceleration sensors.