Forward Brillouin scattering acoustic impedance sensor using thin polyimide-coated fiber

The standard single-mode fiber has been demonstrated as an optomechanical sensor recently to measure the acoustic impedances of surrounding liquids by means of the generation and detection of forward-stimulated Brillouin scattering (FSBS). FSBS allows the mechanical properties of an external material to be probed directly through the interaction of guided light and transverse sound waves that occurs entirely inside the fiber structure. In this technique, having a low-loss interface between the fiber bulk and the external medium is essential for precise measurement; however, it leads to the necessary but impractical removal of the thick polymer fiber coating in most reported methods. Here, we use a commercially available 80-μm-diameter optical fiber coated with a 8-μm-thick polyimide coating layer to measure the acoustic impedances of the surrounding liquids, showing accurate measurement results while retaining the mechanical strength of the fiber.