Use of a Dove prism for laser beam rotation in the primary calibration of accelerometers

This paper presents a new approach realised in our laboratory that uses a combination of a 90° mirror and a rotating Dove prism in order to position the laser beams around the symmetry axis of the device under calibration in a quick and easy way. For each revolution of the Dove prism around its optical axis, the passing laser beam rotates twice. This optical positioning setup allows easier and reproducible alignment of the interferometer laser beams. As there are no beam splitters in this optical set-up, the returned beam intensity is comparable or better than before. We have investigated the practicality of this approach and tested the optical adjustments. Basic tests and first comparison measurements were carried out to verify the feasibility of the new optical arrangement.