Quantum Photonics Vibrometer for Vibration-based Damage Detection
Álvaro Romero Mato (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Yunhyeok Han (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
Malvika Garikapati (Quantum Computing Inc.)
Vahid Yaghoubi (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)
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Abstract
Recent advances in quantum photonics and single-photon detection are enabling new sensing capabilities for vibration-based diagnostics and non-destructive evaluation. This work investigates the signal characteristics and effective resolution of the Quantum Photonic Vibrometer (QPV), a quantum-enhanced, non-contact sensor designed for sub-nanometric vibration measurements in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). The QPV operates at a telecom wavelength of 1550 nm using a mode-locked laser emitting 20 MHz optical pulses, combined with time-gated photon detection on an avalanche photodiode (APD). The measured photon-count signal arises from phase-induced speckle modulation, where structural vibrations modulate the optical phase of the backscattered field, producing measurable intensity fluctuations. In this study, photon-count time series obtained from aluminum specimens (pure and with artificial defects) are analyzed using time- and frequency-domain techniques, including Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), sliding Root Mean Square (RMS), variance, and Hilbert envelope extraction. A simplified physical model is introduced to relate photon-count fluctuations to vibration-induced phase variations, providing insight into the effective measurement resolution in the presence of photon shot noise. Results show that pure aluminum exhibits stable and low-variance responses with consistent spectral signatures, while defective samples introduce measurable changes in frequency content and signal variability. These observations indicate that the QPV signal contains physically meaningful information related to structural condition, and that its sensitivity is governed by the interplay between speckle-induced phase modulation and photon-count statistics. This work highlights the potential of QPV as a sensing modality for vibration analysis and defect-sensitive diagnostics, establishing a foundation for data-driven structural health monitoring using quantum-enhanced vibrometry.
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