All-optical ultrasound probes that contain a photoacoustically-based ultrasound generator paired with a photonic acoustic sensor provide a promising imaging modality for diagnostic and MRI-compatible applications. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a fiber-based all-optical ultrasound probe and its applications in pulse-echo ultrasound imaging. The ultrasound generator is fabricated on a 125 μm multimode optical fiber by forming a light-absorbing multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite coating on its distal end. A peak-to-peak acoustic pressure of 0.95 MPa was achieved with laser irradiation at 2.46 μJ by chemically functionalizing the fiber surface to enable a strong adsorption. Ultrasound reception was performed by a fiber-laser ultrasound sensor that translates ultrasound pressure into differential lasing-frequency changes. By linearly scanning the probe, ex vivo two- and three-dimensional imaging of a segment of swine trachea was demonstrated by detecting the echo ultrasound signals and reconstructing the acoustic scatterers. The probe presents axial and lateral resolutions at 150 and 62 μm, respectively. The small-sized, side-looking all-fiber ultrasound probe presents a promising approach for assembling an interventional endoscopy.

Photothermal/photoacoustic (PT/PA) spectroscopy provides useful knowledge about optical absorption, as well as the thermal and acoustical properties of a liquid sample. For microfluidic biosensing and bioanalysis where an extremely small volume of liquid sample is encapsulated, simultaneous PT/PA detection remains a challenge. In this work, we present a new optofluidic device based on a liquid-core optical ring resonator (LCORR) for the investigation of PT and PA effects in fluid samples. A focused 532 nm pulsed light optically heats the absorptive fluid in a capillary to locally create a transient temperature rise, as well as acoustic waves. A 1550 nm CW laser light is quadrature-locked to detect the resonance spectrum shift of the LCORR and study thermal diffusion and acoustic wave propagation in the capillary. This modality provides an optofluidic investigative platform for biological/biochemical sensing and spectroscopy.

We report on temperature compensation for beat-frequency-encoded dual-polarization fiber laser sensors based on a cleave-rotate-splice method. By cleaving the laser cavity into two segments with comparable lengths, aligning them with a rotated angle of 90°, and then fusion splicing the two halves, the temperature sensitivity in terms of beat-frequency variation can be greatly reduced from 1.99 to 0.30 MHz/°C (or by 84.9%). In contrast, the sensitivity to point loaded mass hardly changes. We also find that the beat-frequency fluctuation decreases from ±30 to ±25 kHz as a result of the temperature compensation.

A novel fiber-optic magnetic field sensor is demonstrated based on a dual-polarization fiber-grating laser, which is embedded in an epoxy resin-bonded magnetostrictive composite material with doped Terfenol-D particles. A simple structure is designed to convert the magnetic field-induced strain to transversal stress, which is applied to the fiber laser to produce beat note frequency changes for measurement purposes. The response of the proposed sensor is measured, and shows quite a good directivity and linearity with a sensitivity of 10.5 Hz/μT to the magnetic field. It also shows a large measurable range up to about 0.3 T.