A range of miniature (125μm o.d.) fibre optic ultrasound sensors based on the use of interferometric polymer optical cavities has been developed for minimally invasive photoacoustic imaging and sensing applications. It was observed that by careful selection of both the fibre tip and cavity geometry it is possible to achieve exceptional acoustic performance. Specifically, rounding the tip of the fibre to remove the presence of sharp diffractive boundaries enables a well behaved frequency response along with a near omnidirectional response at frequencies in the tens of MHz range to be achieved. The use of a plano-convex rather than a planar cavity provides high finesse and therefore detection sensitivity. Thus, by using a plano-convex cavity formed at the tip of radiused single mode fibre it was possible to realise a miniature ultrasound detector with a bandwidth of 80MHz, a noise-equivalent pressure of 40Pa (over a 20MHz measurement bandwidth) and a near omnidirectional response at frequencies as high as 30MHz. These characteristics suggest this type of sensor could find applications in interventional medicine for guiding needles or catheters, as mechanically scanned photoacoustic imaging probes or in laser scanning OR-PAM.

Date Published: 11 March 2015
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9323, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2015, 932311 (11 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2081904

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9323:
Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2015
Alexander A. Oraevsky; Lihong V. Wang, Editor(s)