An experimental method is described which allows estimation of remanent polarization and coercive field without assuming functional forms for the capacitive and electrical resistance terms. The method can be used to measure polarization in specimens with voltage-dependent conductivity (often arising from the presence of ions in the specimens), voltage-dependent capacitance, and significant amounts of space charge. It consists of: (1) performing bipolar current/voltage hysteresis loops to allow a steady state of remanent polarization and space charge to build up in the specimen, and (2) following a bipolar loop with two or more unipolar loops in which the polarization changes in the first unipolar loop. Both sinusoidal and linear time-dependent applied voltages may be used. Automatic data processing of hysteresis loops is described for cases in which specimen behavior may be considered to be ideal.

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This paper describes the development of PVDF hydrophones for characterizing medical ultrasound fields. The polymer hydrophone approaches that have resulted from this work are discussed, with emphasis given to the spot-poled membrane design that has become the de facto reference device for these measurements. The various national and international standards and regulations that have followed from the successful use of PVDF hydrophones also are summarized. The works discussed encompass polymer-based hydrophones designed primarily for diagnostic and lithotripsy exposure measurements, both in water and in vivo. The advent of these hydrophones has made possible accurate and reliable measurements of exposure levels encountered in medical ultrasound and, thus, has allowed questions of ultrasound bioeffects and device safety to be addressed in a consistent and scientifically sound manner.

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