title: Thin film metal coated fiber optic hydrophone probe.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Rupa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gopinath Minasamudram
authors.forename: Piyush
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.forename: Gaurav
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gandhi
authors.forename: Afshin S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Daryoush
authors.forename: Mahmoud A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: El-Sherif
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Lewin
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D006046:Gold