Ultra-sensitive measurement of transverse displacements with linear photonic gears

Raouf Barboza, Amin Babazadeh, Lorenzo Marrucci, Filippo Cardano (), Corrado Lisio and Vincenzo D’Ambrosio ()
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Raouf Barboza: Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo
Amin Babazadeh: Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo
Lorenzo Marrucci: Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo
Filippo Cardano: Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo
Corrado Lisio: Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo
Vincenzo D’Ambrosio: Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-5

Abstract: Abstract Accurately measuring mechanical displacements is essential for a vast portion of current technologies. Several optical techniques accomplish this task, allowing for non-contact sensing even below the diffraction limit. Here we introduce an optical encoding technique, dubbed “linear photonic gears”, that enables ultra-sensitive measurements of a transverse displacement by mapping it into the polarization rotation of a laser beam. In ordinary ambient conditions, we measure the relative shift between two objects with a resolution of 400 pm. We argue that a resolution of 50 pm should be achievable with existing state-of-the-art technologies. Our single-optical-path scheme is intrinsically stable and it could be implemented as a compact sensor, using cost effective integrated optics. We anticipate it may have a strong impact on both research and industry.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28700-2

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