Features
- Pulse width: 1 µs (FWHM)
- Frequency range: 10 kHz-1 MHz
- Peak pressure: 1000 Pa (154 dB rel. 20 µPa)
- Focal spot size: 1 mm
- Focal distance: 20 or 30 mm
- Generation for air-coupled ultrasound testing and acoustic spectroscopy
Thermoacoustic Emitter: Broadband air-coupled ultrasound source
Optical Microphone – World’s first microphone without any moving parts
The Thermoacoustic Emitter (TAE) is a unique, air-coupled, ultrasound source for ultrasonic excitation over a broad frequency range. The transducer generates a Dirac-shaped, spatially-focused, ultrasound pulse via a fast electronic discharge. The TAE operates without moving parts and hence is an excellent match with XARION’s optical microphone. Applications for the transducer include non-contact ultrasound evaluation (NDE) of materials, and acoustic spectroscopy.
Advantages
XARION’s patent-protected sensor technology platform offers substantial advantages:
- Extreme ultrasound frequency range from 10 Hz up to 2 MHz in air, 20 MHz in liquids
- Acoustic and ultrasound detection greater by a factor of 10 than present state-of-the art
- Transducer principle with a perfectly linear frequency response. Although the enclosure needs to be carefully designed to minimize its influence on the sound field, the transducer itself is not frequency dependent
- Sound detection in air and liquids
- Qualification for ultra-high sound pressure levels (up to 190 dB SPL)
- Since no moving inert mass is involved, the Optical Microphone has a true temporal impulse response.
- Inherent phase match in array configurations
- No metallic parts and glass fiber-coupled, hence operational in high electromagnetic fields.
Publications
Air-Coupled Ultrasonic Inspection of Fiber-Reinforced Plates Using an Optical Microphone
Ultrasound inspection of spot-welded joints
Videos
Technology
For the detection of sound waves, conventional microphones use membranes or other moving parts as intermediaries between the incoming acoustic and the resulting electrical quantity. For acoustic ultrasound sensors based on piezoelectric crystals, the approach is similar: the acoustic wave mechanically deforms the crystal. In contrast, the patented idea behind XARION’s Optical Microphone is to exploit another, completely different property of sound: the fact that sound changes the speed of light! In a rigid Fabry-Pérot laser interferometer consisting of two miniaturized mirrors, sound pressure changes the refractive index of the air. This alters the optical wavelength and the light transmission which consequently leads to the respective electrical signal. In contrast to conventional microphones, the Optical Microphone is the world’s first microphone without any moving parts. No mechanically movable or physically deformable parts are involved. By consequence, the sensors exhibit a compelling frequency bandwidth, free from mechanical resonances. The sensor principle is highly sensitive. In fact, refractive index changes below 10-14 can be detected with this technology. This corresponds to pressure changes as small as 1 µPa.
