Photonic hydrophones based on coated fiber bragg gratings

The development of underwater acoustic sensors with performances competitive with conventional piezoelectric hydrophones would overcome intrinsic limitations related to the piezoceramic technology. Optical fiber technology represents a valid platform to implement acoustic sensors for underwater scenarios. Here we report on recent numerical and experimental results obtained with photonic hydrophones based on fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG) with ring shaped coatings. Our numerical results fully characterize the opto-acoustic response of the optical hydrophone, and highlight the key role played by the coating in enhancing significantly its sensitivity by comparison with a standard uncoated configuration. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that the hydrophone sensitivity spectrum exhibits characteristic resonances, which strongly improve the sensitivity with respect to its background level. Our experimental results confirmed the expected resonant behavior of such devices and are in good agreement with the numerical predictions. Optical hydrophones based on coated FBG exhibited an excellent capability to detect acoustic waves in the acoustic frequency range, with extremely high sensitivities. By comparison with bare FBGs, sensitivity enhancements of up to three orders of magnitude were found, demonstrating the effectiveness of polymeric coatings in tailoring the acoustic response of FBG-based hydrophones. © Società Italiana di Fisica.