Optical membrane-free microphone wins AMA Innovations Awards 2013

Membrane-free optical microphone from Xarion GmbH and a 3D scanning laser vibrometer microscope with a measuring beam from Poltech GmbH have jointly won the AMA Innovation Award 2013. The awards were announced and given at the SENSOR+TEST trade fair in Nuremberg going on from 14th - 16th May 2013. The optical laser based microphone is less effected by noise from wind pop-noise and structure-borne sound. The frequency response of the mic is linear and also sense true impulse response. The acoustic pressure is measured optically and contact-free via changes in the refraction index in the air caused by the sound waves. The transducer is based on a laser diode (VCSEL) and a tiny Fabry-Pérot interferometer, i.e. two parallel, partially reflecting mirrors. The optical membrane-free microphone developed by Dr. Balthasar Fischer (Xarion GmbH, Vienna, Austria), Friedrich Reining (Knowles Electronics Austria GmbH, Vienna), and Prof. Dr. Ernst Wintner (Technical University, Vienna) not only won the AMA Innovation Award 2013. The 3D scanning laser vibrometer microscope with a measuring beam is a joint development by Dr. Marcus Winter, Robert Kowarsch, Wanja Ochs, Alexander Collet, Moritz Giesen, Lars Heller, and Dr. Christian Rembe (all from Polytec GmbH, Waldbronn, Germany). It allows the measurement of three-dimensional vibration parameters of microscopic objects in real time. As opp...