Thin film metal coated fiber optic hydrophone probe.
Our purpose is to improve the performance sensitivity of a fiber sensor used as a fiber optic hydrophone probe (FOHP) by the addition of nanoscale thin film gold coating. The fiber is designed to provide a uniform and spatial averaging free response up to 100 MHz by etching down to an active diameter of approximately 9 mum. The performance sensitivity of straight cleaved (i.e., full size core and cladding) uncoated, tapered uncoated, and tapered thin film gold-coated fiber sensors was compared in the frequency range from 1.5 to 20 MHz in the presence of acoustic amplitude pressure levels as high as 6 MPa. An unprecedented voltage sensitivity of -245 dB relative to 1 V/muPa (560 mV/MPa) was measured for a thin film gold-coated FOHP by optimizing the gold coating thickness.
Gopinath Minasamudram
Rupa
R
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Arora
Piyush
P
Gandhi
Gaurav
G
Daryoush
Afshin S
AS
El-Sherif
Mahmoud A
MA
Lewin
Peter A
PA
D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation*
D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D006046:Gold