Patent ID: 7251196

Claim:
A passive acoustic sensor for detecting sounds emanating from under the surface of a body of water, comprising: a rotational platform placed above the surface; at least one acousto-optic sensor mounted to the rotational platform, maintaining a reference laser beam, providing at least one output laser beam to at least one point on the surface, having receiving optics to receive a reflection of the at least one output laser beam from the surface; a signal processor to measure acoustic vibration of the surface by comparing a phase modulation of the reference laser beam to phase modulations of the reflection of the output laser beam to produce acoustic data; and a control system in electrical communication with the at least one acousto-optic sensor and in mechanical communication with the rotational platform, comprising: a processor to accept and process the acoustic data from the at least one acousto-optic sensor; a controller to move the rotational platform when directed by the processor; and a recorder to record the acoustic data.