Patent ID: 7137299

Claim:
An acceleration sensor, comprising: a housing having a cavity therein; a proof mass suspended within the cavity, the proof mass being arranged to move along a sensing axis in response to linear acceleration along the sensing axis; a plurality of elastic support members connected between the proof mass and the housing, the elastic support members being arranged to exert a reaction force on the proof mass in response to displacement of the proof mass along the sensing axis; an optical fiber having a first portion connected between a first side of the proof mass and a first sidewall portion of the housing and a second portion connected between a second side of the proof mass and a second sidewall portion of the housing such that displacement of the proof mass along the sensing axis elongates one of the first and second portions of the optical fiber and shortens the other; an optical signal source arranged to provide a broadband optical signal input to the optical fiber; and a fiber optic Bragg grating formed in the first portion of the optical fiber such that acceleration of the proof mass along the sensing axis produces a strain in the fiber optic Bragg grating, the fiber optic Bragg grating, being arranged to reflect a portion of the optical signal, the reflected portion having a wavelength that is modulated by the strain caused by acceleration of the proof mass along the sensing axis.