A new technique for calibration in frequency of piezoelectric transducers

The calibration in frequency of piezoelectric transducers can be obtained b y sending an ultrashort laser pulse (30 ps), generated by a mode-locked Nd: YAG laser, directly on the detector surface. Thanks to its short duration, the mode-locked pulse behaves as an excitation source of wide spectral cont ent, so that the spectral analysis of the recorded electric signal gives di rect information about the frequency response of the probe. In particular, we report a series of measurements on various transducers of several nomina l frequencies and we show the different response of the probe to a focused laser beam to that of an unfocused one. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.