Comments on ’’On the mechanism of transduction in optical fiber hydrophones’’ [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 66, 976–979 (1979)

Abstract

In a recent paper [H. L. Price, ’’On the mechanism of transduction in optical fiber hydrophones,’’ J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 66, 976–979 (1979)] it is concluded from static arguments that an optical fiber subjected to hydrostatic pressure undergoes an increase in length because the fiber is ’’squeezed out’’ toward the ends by the transverse pressure on its sides. We show that this conclusion is not correct. Static equilibrium demands that the stress in the fiber be hydrostatic just as in the surrounding fluid and that an increase in pressure be accompanied by a decrease in fiber length. We further point out that reference to appropriate original optical data taken under hydrostatic pressure renders the calculation of physical length changes unnecessary in the calculation of optical hydrophone sensitivity.