A Determination of the Response Characteristics of Underwater Electrostatic Transducers
Abstract
High-frequency electrostatic transducers have recently found
many applications as transmitters and receivers of ultrasonic waves
in gases, in a frequency range extending to one megacycle. The
flat response over wide bands of frequencies, characteristic of
condenser microphones in general, has made possible relatively
accurate studies of sources of acoustic impulses, such as electrical
discharge, in the laboratory. With an extension of operation to a
more dense medium, such as water, one would expect changes in the
transmitting and receiving response characteristics. This paper
describes several such changes which occur when a typical high-
frequency electrostatic transducer, previously demonstrated to be
useful for electrical discharge studies in air, is operated underwater.
Results from this study indicate some problems which arise and basic
response changes which occur when a transducer of this type is
operated in a medium appreciably more dense than air.