Broadband Underwater Acoustic Sensing Using Pressure-Stable Relaxor Single-Crystal Hydrophones: A Review
Keywords:
Relaxor ferroelectric; piezoelectric single crystal; hydrophone; underwater acoustic sensing; PMN-PT; PIN-PMN-PT; deep-sea pressure; piezocomposite.Abstract
Relaxor-ferroelectric single crystals may be used to increase hydrophone sensitivity and a wide bandwidth, however, in response to loading conditions, pressure, temperature, bias and cyclic loading, the domain state in the single crystals vary. This survey covers pressure stable broadband receivers using PMN-PT, PIN-PMN-PT, PZN-PT, doping and polymer composites. There are thirty journal papers indexed in DOI from the years 2015 to August 2026 based on crystal chemistry and growth, domain engineering, composite connectivity, receiver architecture, packaging, and qualification evidence. The fabricated tank-tested composites bring finite-element concepts and transmitter-only demonstrations to a halt. The synthesis states that main challenge to be faced in synthesis is maintaining calibrated receiving sensitivity and low self-noise from combined pressure-temperature-bias histories. Practical validation protocol and a deployment evidence ladder are proposed.
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