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Transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) is increasingly used in experimental neuroscience due to its neuromodulatory effectiveness in animal studies. However, achieving multitarget tFUS in small animals is typically limited by transducer size, energy transfer efficiency, and brain volume. The objective of this work was to construct an ultrasound system for multitarget neuromodulation in small animals. First, a miniaturized high-powered 2-D array transducer was developed. The phase delay of each array element was calculated based on the multifocal time-reversal method, generating multiple foci simultaneously in a 3-D field. The effects of the axial focal length, interfocus spacing (lateral distance between the two focal centers), and the number of foci on the focal properties of the pressure field were examined through numerical simulations. In-vitro ultrasonic measurements and transcranial simulations on a rat skull were conducted. The minimum interfocus spacing separating two −6-dB foci and the peak full-width at half-maximum were positively correlated with axial focal length; the relative relationship between the interfocus spacing and pressure field properties was similar for each axial focal length. The maximum acoustic pressure and spatial average intensity at focus in deionized water were 2.21 MPa and 133 W/cm2, respectively. The simulated and experimental results were compared, demonstrating agreement in both peak position and focus shape. The ultrasound system can provide a neuroscientific platform for evaluating the feasibility of multitarget ultrasound stimulation treatment protocols, thus improving the understanding of functional neuroanatomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcranial ultrasound therapy has become a noninvasive method for treating neurological and psychiatric disorders, and studies have further demonstrated that multitarget transcranial ultrasound therapy is a better solution. At present, multitarget transcranial ultrasound therapy in small animals can only be achieved by the multitransducer or phased array. However, multiple transducers may cause spatial interference, and the phased array system is complicated, expensive, and especially unsuitable for small animals. This study is the first to design and fabricate a miniature acoustic holography lens for multitarget transcranial ultrasound therapy in rats. The acoustic holographic lens, working at a frequency of 1.0 MHz, with a size of 10.08 mm $\times10.08$ mm and a pixel resolution of 0.72 mm, was designed, optimized, and fabricated. The dual-focus transcranial ultrasound generated based on the lens was measured; the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the focal spots in the ${y}$ -direction was 2.15 and 2.27 mm and in the ${z}$ -direction was 2.3 and 2.36 mm. The focal length was 5.4 mm, and the distance between the two focuses was 5.6 mm, close to the desired values of 5.4 and 6.0 mm. Finally, the multiple-target blood–brain barrier opening in rats’ bilateral secondary visual cortex (mediolateral area, V2ML) was demonstrated using the transcranial ultrasound therapy system based on the lens. These results demonstrate the good performance of the multitarget transcranial ultrasound therapy system for small animals, including high spatial resolution, small size, and low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Nondestructive testing and structural health monitoring for complex-shaped parts with a high resolution. Ultrasonic methods have been extensively developed in nondestructive testing for various materials and components. However, accurately extracting quantitative information about defects still remains challenging, especially for complex structures. Although the immersion technique is commonly used for complex-shaped parts, the large mismatch of acoustic impedance between water and metal prevents effective ultrasonic transmission and leads to a low signal-to-noise ratio(SNR). In this paper, a quantitative imaging method is proposed for complex-shaped parts based on an ice-coupled full waveform inversion (FWI) method. Numerical experiments were carried out to quantitatively inspect the various defects in a turbine blade. Firstly, the k-space pseudospectral method was applied to simulate ice-coupled ultrasonic testing for the turbine blade. The recorded full wavefields were then applied for a frequency-domain FWI based on the Limited-memory Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (L-BFGS) method. With a carefully selected iterative number and frequency, a successive-frequency FWI can well detect half wavelength defects. Extended studies on an open notch with different orientations and multiple adjacent defects proved its capability to detect different types of defects. Finally, an uncertainty analysis was conducted with inaccurate initial velocity models with a relative error of ±2%, demonstrating its robustness even with a certain inaccuracy. This study demonstrates that the proposed method has a high potential to inspect complex-shaped structures with an excellent resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray-induced acoustic computed tomography (XACT) is a unique hybrid imaging modality that combines high X-ray absorption contrast with high ultrasonic resolution. X-ray radiography and computerized tomography (CT) are currently the gold standards for 2-D and 3-D imaging of skeletal tissues though there are important properties of bone, such as elasticity and speed of sound (SOS), that these techniques cannot measure. Ultrasound is capable of measuring such properties though current clinical ultrasound scanners cannot be used to image the interior morphology of bones because they fail to address the complicated physics involved for exact image reconstruction; bone is heterogeneous and composed of layers of both cortical and trabecular bone, which violates assumptions in conventional ultrasound imaging of uniform SOS. XACT, in conjunction with the time-reversal algorithm, is capable of generating precise reconstructions, and by combining elements of both X-ray and ultrasound imaging, XACT is potentially capable of obtaining more information than any single of these techniques at low radiation dose. This article highlights X-ray-induced acoustic detection through linear scanning of an ultrasound transducer and the time-reversal algorithm to produce the first-ever XACT image of a bone sample. The results of this study should prove to enhance the potential of XACT imaging in the evaluation of bone diseases for future clinical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasonic is one of the well-known methods for surface roughness measurement, but small roughness will only lead to a subtle variation of transmission or reflection. To explore sensitive techniques for surfaces with small roughness, nonlinear ultrasonic measurement in through-transmission and pulse-echo modes was proposed and studied based on an effective unit-cell finite element (FE) model. Higher harmonic generation in solids was realized by applying the Murnaghan hyperelastic material model. This FE model was verified by comparing the absolute value of the nonlinearity parameter with the analytical solution. Then, random surfaces with different roughness values ranging from 0 μm to 200 μm were repeatedly generated and studied in the two modes. The through-transmission mode is very suitable to measure the surfaces with roughness as small as 3% of the wavelength. The pulse-echo mode is sensitive and effective to measure the surface roughness ranging from 0.78% to 5.47% of the wavelength. This study offers a potential nondestructive testing and monitoring method for the interfaces or inner surfaces of the in-service structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasonic particle manipulation (UPM), a non-contact and label-free method that uses ultrasonic waves to manipulate micro- or nano-scale particles, has recently gained significant attention in the microfluidics community. Moreover, glass is optically transparent and has dimensional stability, distinct acoustic impedance to water and a high acoustic quality factor, making it an excellent material for constructing chambers for ultrasonic resonators. Over the past several decades, glass capillaries are increasingly designed for a variety of UPMs, e.g., patterning, focusing, trapping and transporting of micron or submicron particles. Herein, we review established and emerging glass capillary-transducer devices, describing their underlying mechanisms of operation, with special emphasis on the application of glass capillaries with fluid channels of various cross-sections (i.e., rectangular, square and circular) on UPM. We believe that this review will provide a superior guidance for the design of glass capillary-based UPM devices for acoustic tweezers-based research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decrease of piezoelectric properties in the fabrication of ultra-small Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)–x%PbTiO3 (PMN–x%PT) for high-frequency (>20 MHz) ultrasonic array transducers remains an urgent problem. Here, PMN–31%PT with micron-sized kerfs and high piezoelectric performance was micromachined using a 355 nm laser. We studied the kerf profile as a function of laser parameters, revealing that micron-sized kerfs with designated profiles and fewer micro-cracks can be obtained by optimizing the laser parameters. The domain morphology of micromachined PMN–31%PT was thoroughly analyzed to validate the superior piezoelectric performance maintained near the kerfs. A high piezoresponse of the samples after micromachining was also successfully demonstrated by determining the effective piezoelectric coefficient (d33*~1200 pm/V). Our results are promising for fabricating superior PMN–31%PT and other piezoelectric high-frequency (>20 MHz) ultrasonic array transducers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a stereolithography-based method of 3D printing was successfully used to fabricate a complex-shaped triangular zirconia cutting tool with a tool withdrawal groove and a honeycomb ceramic component. The sintered bodies displayed significant shrinkage after sintering, with the maximum shrinkage being 35.26%. The XRD pattern indicated that the crystalline phase of the parts was the t-ZrO 2 phase, while SEM characterization revealed that the sintered bodies were composed of densely packed submicron-grade grains, without any discernible pores. The density of the parts was measured as 97.14% via Archimedes’ water displacement method, which is consistent with the results of SEM characterization. Additionally, the measured Vickers hardness and fracture toughness of the fabricated parts were 13.0597 GPa and 6.0380 MPa m 1/2 , respectively. These values are close to the structural properties of common zirconia ceramics prepared by conventional approaches. Hence, a novel DLP-stereolithography-based 3D printing process for the fabrication of complex and dense zirconia ceramic parts has been proposed in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fabricating PMN-PT composites, the core component of high-frequency (> 30 MHz) transducers, remains challenging due to their poor machinability and ultrasmall kerfs. This urgent problem is significantly impeding the development of PMN-PT ultrasonic transducers for use in clinical research, biomedical sciences, and nondestructive testing (NDT). In this study, high-quality PMN-0.3PT/epoxy 1-3 composites at 30 and 50 MHz were manufactured using a modified picosecond (1.5 ps) laser technique. Their performance was thoroughly analyzed, which was comparable to that with low-stress dry plasma etching. There were fewer microcracks around PMN-PT pillars. The minimum kerf was less than [Formula: see text], and the highest aspect ratio was larger than 7.5. The microdomain morphology and hysteresis loops of PMN-PT pillars further confirmed that composites still maintained excellent piezoelectric performance and suffered fewer damages during laser cutting. The characterization results exhibited a large electromechanical coupling (>0.77), a high dielectric constant (>1600), and a relatively low acoustic impedance (< 17 Mrayls). The ultrasonic transducers with center frequencies of 30 and 50 MHz were designed and prototyped to validate the performance of composites. The transducers showed broad bandwidth (>80%), high two-way insertion loss (IL) (>-23 dB), and imaging resolution superior to [Formula: see text]. Finally, the C-scan experiments of IC chips were also used to further illustrate the applicability of transducers. These encouraging results further demonstrated that ultrafast laser technology will bring more accessible and affordable methods for fabricating high-frequency PMN-PT composite transducers with excellent performance.

We developed a simple and compact laser-scanning photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) for imaging large areas of subcutaneous microvasculature in vivo. The reflection-mode PAM not only retains the advantage of high scanning speed for optical scanning, but also offers an imaging field-of-view (FOV) up to 20 × 20 mm 2 , which is the largest FOV available in laser-scanning models so far. The lateral resolution of the PAM system was measured to be 17.5 µm. Image experiments on subcutaneous microvasculature in in vivo mouse ears and abdomen demonstrate the system's potential for fast and high-resolution imaging for injuries and diseases of large tissues and organs., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement.)

We have developed an intravascular confocal photoacoustic (PA) endoscope with symmetrically aligned dual-element ultrasonic transducers. By combining focused laser excitation and focused acoustic collection, the intravascular confocal PA endoscope is capable of realizing resolution enhanced intravascular PA imaging with improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to ameliorate the resolution reduction caused by laser scattering with increasing tissue depth. The detection sensitivity of the endoscope is improved by 5 dB compared with that of single transducer endoscope, and the transverse resolution of the system can up to 13 μm. Intravascular PA tomography of a normal vessel and an atherosclerotic vessel have been performed to demonstrate the imaging ability of the system. This intravascular confocal PA endoscope with an outer diameter of 1.2 mm supports potential for clinical applications in intravascular plaque imaging and subsequent diagnosis.

Solid-state laser systems, such as traditional Nd:YAG-based lasers, are commonly used for noninvasive biomedical photoacoustics with nanosecond pulse duration and millijoule pulse energy. However, such lasers are both bulky and expensive for use as a handy tool for clinical applications. As an alternative, a semiconductor light source has the advantages of being compact, inexpensive, and robust. In addition, the main drawback of low peak output power may make it exactly suitable for the imaging modalities, which require relatively low pulse energies, such as acoustic- and optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR/OR-PAM). We propose a cost-efficient OR-PAM for two-dimensional/three-dimensional (2-D/3-D) biological imaging based on a pulsed near-infrared laser diode. By raster scanning, typical 2-D photoacoustic images were obtained at different scales, and 3-D surface renderings were clearly reconstructed with a marching cubes algorithm. This initial study would promote the production of portable OR-PAM technology for clinical and biomedical applications.

We present a fast photoacoustic imaging system based on an annular transducer array for detection of intraocular foreign bodies. An eight-channel data acquisition system is applied to capture the photoacoustic signals using multiplexing and the total time of data acquisition and transferring is within 3 s. A limited-view filtered back projection algorithm is used to reconstruct the photoacoustic images. Experimental models of intraocular metal and glass foreign bodies were constructed on ex vivo pig's eyes and clear photoacoustic images of intraocular foreign bodies were obtained. Experimental results demonstrate the photoacoustic imaging system holds the potential for in clinic detecting the intraocular foreign bodies.

We present a 3D-visual laser-diode-based photoacoustic imaging (LD-PAI) system with a pulsed semiconductor laser source, which has the properties of being inexpensive, portable, and durable. The laser source was operated at a wavelength of 905 nm with a repetition rate of 0.8 KHz. The energy density on the sample surface is about 2.35 mJ/cm(2) with a pulse energy as low as 5.6 μJ. By raster-scanning, preliminary 3D volumetric renderings of the knotted and helical blood vessel phantoms have been visualized integrally with an axial resolution of 1.1 mm and a lateral resolution of 0.5 mm, and typical 2D photoacoustic image slices with different thickness and orientation were produced with clarity for detailed comparison and analysis in 3D diagnostic visualization. In addition, the pulsed laser source was integrated with the optical lens group and the 3D adjustable rotational stage, with the result that the compact volume of the total radiation source is only 10 × 3 × 3 cm(3). Our goal is to significantly reduce the costs and sizes of the deep 3D-visual PAI system for future producibility.