Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America; August 1971; v. 61; no. 4;
p. 937-955
© 1971 Seismological Society of America
Interferometric calibration of a strainmeter transducer
STANLEY SMOOKLER and
JOHN V. KLINE
COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES, GOLDEN, COLORADO 80401
Abstract
A capacitive-strainmeter transducer is calibrated using a variable-spacing, Fabry-Perot interferometer. Optical flats are mounted on a spring parallelogram. Thermal expansion of a steel tube deforms the parallelogram, smoothly displacing one of the optical flats. This modulates the intensity of the 5016 Å line, observed at the central zone of the interference pattern, and thus produces sharp peaks on a pen recorder. A theoretical analysis of the peak width, based on the work of Chabbal (1958), agrees with that recorded by the interferometer. This calibration permits earth-strain measurements to an accuracy of 1 per cent.
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