Optical Microphone Based on a Reflective Micromirror Diaphragm

An optical microphone incorporating a reflective diaphragm and a fiber-optic head was demonstrated. The diaphragm was made of a micromirror membrane which is suspended by a silicon bar connected to a frame, allowing fer a displacement induced by acoustic waves. A compact, simple optical head was implemented by exploiting a single multimode fiber. For the assembled microphone, the static characteristics were investigated to find the operation point defined as the optimum distance between the head and the diaphragm, and a flat frequency response with a variation of 2dB for the range of up to 2 kHz was accomplished.