A primary method for the complex calibration of a hydrophone from 1 Hz to 2 kHz

Abstract

Primary calibrations of hydrophones at frequencies less than about 1 kHz are typically performed in a coupler reciprocity chamber (“coupler“); a closed test chamber where time harmonic oscillations in pressure can be achieved and the reciprocity conditions required for a primary calibration can be realized. The closed and controlled environment in the coupler allows for the performance of primary calibrations over the temperature and hydrostatic pressure range found in the ocean. The coupler reciprocity system employed by the United States, in service since the 1960s, provides only the magnitude of the pressure sensitivity and not the phase. Recent work has demonstrated a method for the primary calibration of both the magnitude and phase of the complex sensitivity for a hydrophone at frequencies ranging from 1 Hz to 2 kHz. The combined expanded uncertainties of the magnitude and phase of the complex sensitivity at 1 Hz were 0.1 dB re 1V/μPa and ±1°, respectively.