With the development of optical techniques, scanning laser vibrometers have been applied successfully in measuring particle velocities and distributions in ultrasonic fields. In this paper, to develop the optical interferometry in measuring focused fields with small amplitude, the "effective" refractive index used for plane waves and extended for spherical waves is presented, the piezo-optic effect as a function of the incident angle of the laser beam is simulated, and the ultrasonic field produced by a concave spherical transducer is calculated numerically around its focal region. To verify the feasibility of the optical method in detecting focused ultrasonic fields, a measurement system was set up that utilized both a scanning laser vibrometer and a membrane hydrophone. Measurements were made in different zones of a focusing transducer, and good results were acquired from the optical interferometry in regions where acoustic waves travel in plane form or spherical form. The data obtained from the optical method are used to reconstruct acoustic fields, and it is found that the focal plane, the maximum pressure, and the beamwidth of the transducer can be forecasted accurately.

This paper investigates the prediction of the far-field performances of high frequency projectors using the second source array method (SSAM). The far-field parameters can be calculated accurately using the complex acoustic pressure data of two very close parallel planes which lie in the near-field region of the projector. The paper simulates the feasibility of predicting the far-field parameters such as transmitting voltage response and the far-field directivity pattern. The predicting results are compared with that calculated using boundary element method (BEM). It shows very good agreement between the two methods. A planar high frequency projector is measured using the near-field method. In order to verify the predicting results, the far-field measurement is performed for the same projector. The comparison of the results shows that the near-field method is capable to precisely predict the far-field parameters of the projector.

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Calibration methods and facilities have been employed to directly obtain sensitivities of an underwater acoustic vector receiver using two methods based on laser Doppler vibrometry. The vector receiver was first calibrated in a standing wave tube over the frequency range 20 Hz to 2 kHz, where the oscillatory velocity of the water-air interface was measured to determine the sound particle velocity at the position of vector receiver based on waveguide theory. In the frequency range 2.5–10 kHz, the vector receiver was calibrated in an anechoic vessel with dimensions of 1.2 m diameter × 1.8 m length using wideband signals, with a laser Doppler vibrometer used to detect the oscillatory motion of a plastic pellicle, which was sufficiently thin to follow the acoustic particle motion. The uncertainties of the calibration using the optical method were estimated to be 0.7–0.8 dB at 95% confidence interval. The calibration results were compared with those obtained using a reciprocity method in a 50 m × 15 m × 10 m water tank and using a comparison method in a standing wave tube, and the largest deviation did not exceed 1.0 dB over the frequency range 20 Hz to 10 kHz.