Abstract

A novel fiber optic hydrophone based on the integration of a dual polarization fiber grating laser and an elastic diaphragm is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The diaphragm transforms the acoustic pressure into transversal force acting on the laser cavity which changes the fiber birefringence and therefore the beat frequency between the two polarization lines. The proposed hydrophone has advantages of ease of interrogation, absolute frequency encoding, and capability to multiplex a number of sensors on a single fiber by use of frequency division multiplexing technique.

© 2009 OSA

» View Full Text: Acrobat PDF (399 KB)

History
Original Manuscript: July 1, 2009
Manuscript Accepted: August 17, 2009
Revised Manuscript: August 14, 2009
Published: October 14, 2009

References

1. P. Nash, “Review of interferometric optical fibre hydrophone technology,” IEE Proc., Radar Sonar Navig. 143(3), 204–209 (1996). [CrossRef]
2. C. K. Kirkendall and A. Dandridge, “Overview of high performance fibre-optic sensing,” J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 37(18), R197–R216 (2004). [CrossRef]
3. G. A. Cranch and P. Nash, “Large-scale multiplexing of interferometric fiber-optic sensors using TDM and DWDM,” J. Lightwave Technol. 19(5), 687–699 (2001). [CrossRef]
4. N. Lagakos, W. J. Trott, T. R. Hichkman, J. H. Cole, and J. A. Bucaro, “Microbend fiber-optic sensor as extended hydrophone,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 18(10), 1633–1638 (1982). [CrossRef]
5. W. B. Spillman and R. L. Gravel, “Moving fiber-optic hydrophone,” Opt. Lett. 5(1), 30–31 (1980). [CrossRef]
6. W. B. Spillman and D. H. McMahon, “Frustrated-total-internal-reflection multimode fiber-optic hydrophone,” Appl. Opt. 19(1), 113–117 (1980). [CrossRef]
7. R. Chen, G. F. Fernando, T. Butler, and R. A. Badcock, “A novel ultrasound fiber optic sensor based on a fused-tapered optical fiber coupler,” Meas. Sci. Technol. 15(8), 1490–1495 (2004). [CrossRef]
8. N. Takahashi, S., Takahashi, and K. Tetsumura, “Fiber-Bragg-grating underwater acoustic sensor,” in Proc. 13th Int. Conf. Optical Fiber Sensors, Kyongju, Korea, 565–568 (1999).
9. N. Takahashi, K. Yoshimura, S. Takahashi, and K. Imamura, ““Characteristics of fiber Bragg grating hydrophone,” IEICE Trans. Electron,” E 83-C, 275–281 (2000).
10. J. H. Cole, C. Sunderman, A. B. Tveten, C. Kirkendall, and A. Dandridge, “Preliminary investigation of air-included polymer coatings for enhanced sensitivity of fiber-optic acoustic sensors,” In Proc. 15th Int. Conf. Optical Fiber Sensors, Portland, Oregon, 317–320 (2002).
11. D. J. Hill, and P. J. And, Nash, “In-water acoustic response of a coated DFB fibre laser sensor,” In Proc. 14th Int. Conf. Optical Fiber Sensors, Venice, 33–36 (2000).
12. S. Foster, A. Tikhomirov, M. Milnes, J. van Velzen, and G. Hardy, “A fiber laser hydrophone,” in Proc. 17th Int. Conf. Optical Fiber Sensors, Bruges, Belgium, 627–610 (2005).
13. P. E. Bagnoli, N. Beverini, R. Falciai, E. Maccioni, M. Morganti, F. Sorrentino, F. Stefani, and C. Trono, “Development of an erbium-doped fibre laser as a deep-sea hydrophone,” J. Opt. A, Pure Appl. Opt. 8(7), S535–S539 (2006). [CrossRef]
14. M. G. Xu, L. Reekie, Y. T. Chow, and J. P. Dakin, “Optical in-fibre grating high pressure sensor,” Electron. Lett. 29(4), 398–399 (1993). [CrossRef]
15. B. O. Guan, H. Y. Tam, S. T. Lau, and H. L. W. Chan, “Ultrasonic hydrophone based on distributed Bragg reflector fiber laser,” IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 17(1), 169–171 (2005). [CrossRef]
16. L. Flax, J. H. Cole, R. P. De Paula, and J. A. Bucaro, “Acoustically induced birefringence in optical fibers,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 72(9), 1159–1162 (1982). [CrossRef]
17. Y. Zhang, B. O. Guan, and H. Y. Tam, “Characteristics of the distributed Bragg reflector fiber laser sensor for lateral force measurement,” Opt. Commun. 281(18), 4619–4622 (2008). [CrossRef]

Author Affiliations

Bai-Ou Guan

Institute of Photonics Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaPolyU-DUT Joint Research Center for Photonics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

Hwa-Yaw Tam

Photonics Research Centre and Department of Electrical Engineering,

Yan-Nan Tan

PolyU-DUT Joint Research Center for Photonics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China

Cited By

OSA is able to provide readers links to articles that cite this paper by participating in CrossRef's Cited-By Linking service. In addition to listing OSA journal articles that cite this paper, citing articles from other participating publishers will also be listed.

Advanced Search

Recent ToC Categories (Beta)

• Oct 08 2009 : See the latest ISP articles in the Applied Optics feature on Digital Holography in 3-D Imaging.
• Sep 25 2009 : Energy Express: Optics Express announces a special bi-monthly supplement dedicated to rapid developments in optics for sustainable energy.
• Sep 21 2009 : The 2009 Education and Training in Optics and Photonics papers are now available.

More News

• Invisibility Visualized
  Nov 12, 2009 - Scientists and curiosity seekers who want to know what a partially or... more
• Diamonds are a Laser's Best Friend
  Sep 18, 2009 - Tomorrow’s lasers may come with a bit of bling, thanks to a new... more
• Open Wide and Say ‘Zap’
  Aug 19, 2009 - A group of researchers in Australia and Taiwan has developed a new... more