Yiguang Yang

Laser-induced acoustic (LIA) underwater detection, as a next-generation sensing paradigm, combines high spatial resolution, rapid temporal response, and cross-medium detection capability, positioning it as a strategically significant technology in marine resource exploration, military security, and ocean environmental monitoring. The fundamental principles underlying LIA technology are systematically examined, together with recent advances in representative experimental systems and critical enabling techniques. The characteristics of the laser–acoustic transmission channel are comprehensively investigated, and the mechanisms through which laser parameters modulate the properties of acoustic signals are rigorously elucidated. Moreover, several challenges hindering practical applications are underscored, including laser energy attenuation, interference arising from complex underwater environments, and the comparatively high cost of equipment. Finally, future research directions are outlined, encompassing the development of high-efficiency laser sources, multimodal integrated sensing strategies, intelligent signal processing algorithms, and improved environmental adaptability. These efforts are intended to provide theoretical underpinnings for the continued advancement and broader application of LIA-based underwater detection technologies.

Underwater Wireless Optical Communication (UWOC) plays a crucial role in marine exploration and observation due to its high speed and low latency characteristics, while research on underwater time and frequency transfer (UTFT) is relatively lacking. The complicated underwater environments, absorption and scattering effects severely degrade signal stability and signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR). In response to this issue, a photon packet transmission model is established based on the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The effects of different parameters, including water conditions, divergence angles, receiving apertures, are systematically analyzed, with key indicators such as phase noise and Allan deviation, identified as performance measures. An experimental platform is also built using kaolin turbidity to obtain experimental results corresponding to different frequencies and turbidity levels, which are then compared with simulation results. The high consistency between simulation and experimental results verifies the reliability of the proposed model. This research provides a feasible method for performance prediction and tolerance design of UTFT networks.

Optical-carried microwave interferometry (OCMI) has attracted increasing attention in recent years, as it combines the ease of phase extraction and manipulation of microwave techniques with the low-loss transfer of optical fibers. Conventional OCMI implementations typically employ broadband light sources and coherent photodetection, which inevitably suffer from dispersion, polarization fading, and phase drift, severely limiting the achievable sensing distance. In this work, we proposed an optimized OCMI architecture that adopts incoherent photodetection combined with electric-domain microwave interferometry. Comprehensive theoretical analysis and systematic experiments demonstrate that the proposed system enables robust, dynamic, and long-haul fiber transfer delay (FTD) measurements, no less than in 15 km length, with improved resolution and stability. It provides new insight for building long-haul FTD sensor networks.

Implementing information encoding in laser acoustic signals by altering the medium’s color is one of the current hot research topics. Modulating the color of the medium can modulate the directionality of laser acoustic signals; however, there has been little research on the impact of water color on laser acoustic signals. This paper investigates the relationship between the directionality of laser acoustic signals and water color, innovatively proposing a conical sound source model. It points out that the ratio of the model’s radius (r) to the model’s vertical line (d) is a decisive factor affecting directionality. Through simulations and experiments, it has been verified that laser acoustic signals exhibit no significant directionality (r/d = 10) and that the energy distribution of sound signals in the vertical direction significantly decreases (r/d = 0.4). Sound signal directivity and absorption rate were studied in the environment of red, blue, and yellow water, and the time–frequency characteristics were also studied. The acoustic signals produced by laser breakdown of different colors have obvious time–frequency characteristic differences, among which the signal intensity generated by laser incident on yellow water is 180.13 dB and the signal intensity generated by laser incident on black water is 168.31 dB. The peak frequency of sound signal generated by laser breakdown of yellow water is the highest, which is 21,240 Hz, and the peak frequency of sound signal generated by laser breakdown of water is the lowest, which is 8828 Hz. There is an obvious positive correlation between the peak frequency of sound signals and the laser absorption rate, and calculation of the optimal water color corresponding to the highest detection threshold at different distances provides guidance for the application of laser acoustic communication.