LOW-NOISE WIDE-BAND ACCELEROMETER USING AN INDUCTIVE DISPLACEMENT SENSOR

A wideband (dc to 500 Hz) low noise accelerometer has been developed. It makes use of a suspended mass whose displacement relative to the supporting structure is sensed by a linear variable differential transformer. It works both in horizontal and in vertical direction. The electronics is connected to the mechanical structure through 12 m long cables. The spectral sensitivity is 7×10-10 (m/s2)/√Hz below 6 Hz. The accelerometer will be used to perform an inertial damping of the resonances of the suspension of the mirrors in VIRGO, an interferometric antenna for gravitational waves detection. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.