Ultrafast optical phase-sensitive ultrasonic detection via dual-comb multiheterodyne interferometry

Highly sensitive and broadband ultrasound detection is important for photoacoustic imaging, biomedical ultrasound, and ultrasonic nondestructive testing. The elasto-optical refractive index modulation induced by ultrasound arouses a transient phase shift of a probe beam. Highly sensitive phase detection with a high Q factor resonator is desirable to visualize the ultraweak transient ultrasonic field. However, current phase-sensitive ultrasonic detectors suffer from limited bandwidth, mutual interference between intensity and phase, and significant phase noise, which become key to limiting further improvement of detection performance. We report a phase-sensitive detector with a bandwidth of up to 100 MHz based on dual-comb multiheterodyne interferometry (DCMHI). By sensing the phase shift induced by the ultrasound without any resonators in the medium, the DCMHI boosted the phase sensitivity by coherent accumulation without any magnitude averaging and extra radio frequency amplification. DCMHI offers high sensitivity and broad bandwidth as the noise-equivalent pressure reaches 31 mPa / root Hz under 70 MHz acoustic responses. With a large repetition rate difference of up to 200 MHz of dual comb, DCMHI can achieve broadband acoustic responses up to 100 MHz and a maximum possible imaging acquisition rate of 200 MHz. It is expected that DCMHI can offer a new perspective on the new generation of optical ultrasound detectors.