Resonant microphone based on laser beam deflection

Abstract

A microphone consisting of a flexible membrane coupled to a Helmholtz resonator can be constructed to have a resonance at a specific frequency making it, unlike conventional broadband microphones, a frequency selective detector of sound. The present device uses a laser beam reflected from the membrane and directed onto a split photodiode to record the motion of the membrane. Since the microphone has a lightly damped resonance, both the thermal noise fluctuations in the displacement of the membrane from its equilibrium position and the response of the microphone to sound at the resonance frequency are large. The large amplitude of both the signal and the noise fluctuations means that effect of amplifier noise on the microphone’s sensitivity is diminished relative to that in broadband microphones. Applications of the microphone include photoacoustic detection of gases employing low power lasers.