Polymer Waveguides for Improved Sensitivity in Fiber Fabry-Perot Ultrasound Detectors

This paper presents a fabrication method and results from optical and acoustic characterization of a miniature fiber Fabry-Perot ultrasound detector. A high Q-factor was achieved by creating a self-aligned polymer waveguide within the resonator cavity to restrict diffraction losses. As a result of the improved optical Q-factor upon introduction of the waveguide, a high acoustic sensitivity was achieved. The device presented in this paper demonstrates an optical resonator Q-factor of >2000, and a Noise Equivalent Pressure of 350 Pa over a 25MHz bandwidth on a 125 μm fiber with a 9 μm waveguide. Sensitivity can be further improved significantly with the use of dielectric mirrors. The high sensitivity of these waveguided fiber Fabry-Perot ultrasound detectors makes them suitable for detection of both ultrasound and photoacoustic signals, while their small size makes this technology suitable for adoption in applications requiring small form factor, such as in interventional cardiology.