Optical Generation and Detection of High-Frequency Focused Ultrasound and Associated Nonlinear Effects.

Abstract

In this thesis, optical generation and detection of high-frequency ultrasound are presented. On the generation side, high-efficiency optical transmitters have been devised and developed which can generate high-frequency and high-amplitude pressure. Conventional optoacoustic transmitters have suffered from poor optoacoustic energy conversion efficiency (10-7~10-8). Therefore, pressure amplitudes were usually weak for long-range imaging (several cm) and too weak to induce any therapeutic effects. Here, far beyond such traditional regime, therapeutic pressure amplitudes of tens of MPa were achieved optoacoustically. First, high-efficiency optoacoustic sources were developed in planar geometries by using carbon nanotube-polymer composites. The planar transmitters could generate 18-fold stronger pressure than thin metallic films used as references, together with providing broadband and high-frequency spectra over 120 MHz. Then, the thin-film transmitters were formed on concave substrates to generate and simultaneously focus the ultrasound. Unprecedented optoacoustic pressure was achieved at lens focus: >50 MPa in positive and >20 MPa in negative peaks. These amplitudes were sufficient to induce strong shock waves and acoustic cavitation. Due to the high-frequency operation, such therapeutic pressure and the induced effects were tightly localized onto focal widths of 75 um in lateral and 400 um in axial directions, which are an order of magnitude smaller than those of traditional piezoelectric transducers. The shock waves and the cavitation effects were investigated in various ways. High focal gains and short distances for shock formation were suggested as main features. The optoacoustic approach is expected to open numerous opportunities for a broad range of biomedical applications demanding high-accuracy treatment with minimal damage volumes around focal zones. For optical detection of ultrasound, optical microring resonators have been used due to their broadband frequency responses (~100 MHz) and high sensitivity. However, their spatial responses due to the particular ring shape have not been investigated especially for high-frequency ranges. Here, the microring responses were characterized in this regime. As a final subject, the microrings were used to detect focused ultrasound and realize novel optoacoustic 4f imaging systems which have capabilities of fast 3-D imaging without requiring mathematical reconstruction steps. High-resolution performances were demonstrated by resolving polymer microspheres of 100-um diameter.