Performance comparison of an all-fiber-based laser Doppler vibrometer for remote acoustical signal detection using short and long coherence length lasers

All-fiber laser Doppler vibrometer systems have great potential in the application of remote acoustic detection. However, due to the requirement for a long operating distance, a long coherence length laser is required, which can drive the system cost high. In this paper, a system using a short coherence length laser is proposed and demonstrated. Experimental analysis indicates that the multi-longitudinal modes of the laser cause detection noise and that the unequal length between two paths (local oscillator path and transmission path) increases the intensity and the frequency components of the noise. In order to reduce the noise, the optical length of the two paths needs to be balanced, within the coherence length of the source. We demonstrate that adopting a tunable optical delay to compensate the unequal length significantly reduces the noise. In a comparison of the detection results by using a short coherence laser and a long coherence laser, our developed system gives a good performance on the acoustic signal detection from three meters away.