Optical pressure transducer of randomly distributed fiber optics

Claim 1

An optical pressure transducer comprising: a source of coherent light; means for light detection; a pressure-responsive diaphragm having a light-reflective surface deflectable in proportion to a pressure differential across the diaphragm; and a fiber optic bundle for transmitting light from said light source to said diaphragm surface and transmitting reflected light from said diaphragm surface to said light detection means comprising a first light source bundle having a plurality of optical fibers, one end of which is irradiated with coherent light from said light source, a second reflected light bundle having a plurality of optical fibers, one end of which conveys reflected light to said light detection means, and a combined bundle having an end consisting of the other ends of said light source bundle and reflected light bundle, said other ends being substantially randomly distributed across said combined bundle end, said diaphragm being positioned to reflect a portion of coherent light radiated from said first combined bundle end into said second combined bundle end, whereby the phase differential between light radiated from said coherent light source and light reflected from said diaphragm is proportional to deflection of said diaphragm.