Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Optical microphone hears ultrasound

Subjects

An Austrian start-up describes how its membrane-free optical microphone technology is being put to good use in ultrasonic non-destructive testing and process control.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The membrane-free optical microphone.
Figure 2: Ultrasound scan of a carbon fibre composite plate that has internal defects, obtained with the optical sensor.
Figure 3: Acoustic emission monitoring at CERN, where the robustness of different materials against proton-induced damage is being investigated.

References

  1. Zhang, X. et al. J. Assoc. Res. Otolaryngology 15, 867–881 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bilaniuk, N. Appl. Acoust. 50, 35–63 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Chandler, S. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 30, 644–645 (1958).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bell, A. G. Am. J. Sci. 20, 305–324 (1880).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Philip, E. C. Appl. Optics 35, 1566–1573 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Fischer, B. Development of an Optical Microphone without Membrane PhD thesis, Vienna University of Technology (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bass, H. E., Sutherland, L. C. & Zuckerwar, A. J. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 88, 2019–2020 (1990).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Rohringer, W. et al. Proc. SPIE 9708, 970815 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kreutzbruck, M., Pelkner, M., Gaal, M., Daschewski, M. & Brackrock, D. In Proc. 12th Int. Conf. Slovenian Soc. for Non-Destructive Testing 2013 303–314 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Wooldridge, A. B. & Chapman, R. K. in Improving the Effectiveness and Reliability of Non-Destructive Testing — A Volume in Non Destructive Testing and Materials Evaluation Ch. 4, 88 (Pergamon, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Potter, K., Khan, B., Wisnom, M., Bell, T. & Stevens, J. Composites Part A 39, 1343–1354 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Wong, S. B. Non-Destructive Testing — Theory, Practice and Industrial Applications (Lambert Academic, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Pelianov, I. et al. Photoacoustics 2, 63–74 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Bastuck, M., Herrmann, H.-G., Wolter, B., Zinn, P.-C. & Zaeh, R.-K. In Proc. 34th Int. Congress Applications Lasers & Electro-Optics 601 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Fischer, B., Deboy, D. & Zotter, S. In 19th World Congress on Non-Destructive Testing Tu.1.F (2016).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Guruschkin, E. Berührungslose Prüfung von Faserverbundwerkstoffen mit Luftultraschall MSc thesis, Technical University of Munich (2015).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Balthasar Fischer.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author is founder of XARION Laser Acoustics GmbH, which commercializes the technology discussed here.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fischer, B. Optical microphone hears ultrasound. Nature Photon 10, 356–358 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.95

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.95

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing