Piezoelectric fibers for sensing and actuation at ultrasonic and audio frequencies

Following the first demonstration of fiber-based piezoelectric element that can be interfaced with external circuits in both transmitter and receiver configurations, we continue to explore the refinement of the fabrication process on novel and high performance structures: fibers with circular and rectangular cross sections have been fabricated to control the acoustic wavefronts. Fibers containing piezoelectric stacks are developed to allow increased signal to noise ratio for both acoustic emission and acoustic reception. Electrical impedance measurements have been employed to characterize and understand the piezoelectric (ferroelectric) properties of both the fiber transducer and its active component materials.