TY - JOUR
T1 - Toward a highly sensitive polymer waveguide fiber Fabry-Pérot ultrasound detector
AU - Thathachary, Supriya V.
AU - Ashkenazi, Shai
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - In recent times, there has been extensive research on fiber-optic imaging devices in order to enable imaging/sensing at a size scale inaccessible to other modalities. The design for fabrication of a highly sensitive fiber-optic ultrasound detector is proposed. The transducer employs a polymer Fabry-Pérot resonator for ultrasound detection. To enhance acoustic sensitivity, a method is proposed for fabricating a self-aligned polymer waveguide within the cavity to improve the resonator quality factor (Q-factor). Simulation studies were conducted to evaluate feasibility and quantify the improvement in Q-factor for different transducer configurations. Results show that with dielectric mirrors and a waveguide, Q-factor can approach the order of 10,000. Additional simulation studies are presented to analyze the effect of cavity shape on the device performance, drawing out the importance of a flat mirror for waveguided devices. Subsequently, results from optical testing of the first iteration of fabricated devices are presented, highlighting the main drawback of this method - the nonideal shape of the waveguiding pillar. Finally, initial results from the second iteration of devices that overcome this drawback are presented, demonstrating the feasibility of creating straight self-aligned polymer waveguides on gold-coated fibers, followed by a discussion on the implications of this work and future steps.
AB - In recent times, there has been extensive research on fiber-optic imaging devices in order to enable imaging/sensing at a size scale inaccessible to other modalities. The design for fabrication of a highly sensitive fiber-optic ultrasound detector is proposed. The transducer employs a polymer Fabry-Pérot resonator for ultrasound detection. To enhance acoustic sensitivity, a method is proposed for fabricating a self-aligned polymer waveguide within the cavity to improve the resonator quality factor (Q-factor). Simulation studies were conducted to evaluate feasibility and quantify the improvement in Q-factor for different transducer configurations. Results show that with dielectric mirrors and a waveguide, Q-factor can approach the order of 10,000. Additional simulation studies are presented to analyze the effect of cavity shape on the device performance, drawing out the importance of a flat mirror for waveguided devices. Subsequently, results from optical testing of the first iteration of fabricated devices are presented, highlighting the main drawback of this method - the nonideal shape of the waveguiding pillar. Finally, initial results from the second iteration of devices that overcome this drawback are presented, demonstrating the feasibility of creating straight self-aligned polymer waveguides on gold-coated fibers, followed by a discussion on the implications of this work and future steps.
KW - Fabry-Pérot
KW - fiber-optic
KW - intravascular imaging
KW - optical ultrasound detection
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U2 - 10.1117/1.JBO.23.10.106008
DO - 10.1117/1.JBO.23.10.106008
M3 - Article
C2 - 30369105
AN - SCOPUS:85055613364
SN - 1083-3668
VL - 23
JO - Journal of biomedical optics
JF - Journal of biomedical optics
IS - 10
M1 - 106008
ER -