Optical Hydrophone for Broadband Medical Ultrasound

A broadband fiber-based hydrophone probe is reported for measurements of high frequency (up to 100 MHz) ultrasonic fields. The fiber probe with a tip diameter on the order of about 9 microns provides an effective measurement tool, which is adequate for mm spatial resolution and they could eliminate the need for spatial averaging corrections. Power budget calculation of the fiber sensor has been performed, which shows that high power laser source is essential to achieve sufficient signal-to-noise ratio. Experiments have been done to examine the sensitivity of the fiber optic ultrasound hydrophone probe