Development of a Fiber-Optic Probe Hydrophone for a Cryogenic Liquid

We report the progress of developing a fiber-optic probe hydrophone (FOPH) system applicable to the measurement of local density/pressure fluctuations in a cryogenic liquid. The measurement principle is based on a law of classical optics known as "Fresnel's reflection loss." We use this principle at the end-face of a single-mode optical fiber that is immersed in liquid helium. Since the refraction index of liquid He-4 is a function of density, and the refraction index of the core of the optical fiber is constant, the pressure can be obtained by measuring the reflectivity. We have succeeded in measuring the temperature dependence of the static density, and we go on to discuss the possibility of application to acoustic pressure measurements.