Abstract
Pressure pulses are used in extracorporeal lithotripsy, pain therapy and other medical applications. Typical lithotripter pulses reach positive pressure amplitudes of ca. 20 to more than 100 MPa and negative pressures of -5 to more than -20 MPa, depending on the focusing properties and energy settings of the source. The IEC standard 61846, which defines the acoustic parameters of pressure pulse fields, describes the properties of "Focus-" and "Field-" type hydrophones, which were originally specified as PVDF sensors.
During recent years, two types of optical sensors were developed, which are based on the principle of measuring reflection changes of a laser beam at a glass-water surface: The fiber optic sensor using bare optical fibers and the "light spot" sensor using a thick glass block. Measurements with both hydrophone types were made with a low pressure transducer (p+max=3 MPa), and two electromagnetic lithotripter sources with the same total acoustic energy (E5MPa=90mJ), one with a wide focus (FWHM = 11 mm, p+max = 30 MPa) and the other with a small focus (FWHM = 3,5 mm, p+max = 83 MPa). The results show that both optical sensor types provide high pressure-time signal fidelity comparable to PVDF membrane sensors. Both optical hydrophones can serve as "Focus-" and "Field-" hydrophones as defined in the lithotripsy measurement standard IEC 61846.
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