High-Bandwidth Heterodyne Laser Interferometer for the Measurement of High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Pressure.

As a high-end medical technology, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is widely used in cancer treatment and ultrasonic lithotripsy technology. The acoustic output level and safety of ultrasound treatments are closely related to the accuracy of sound pressure measurements. Heterodyne laser interferometry is applied to the measurement of ultrasonic pressure owing to its characteristics of non-contact, high precision, and traceability. However, the upper limit of sound pressure measurement is limited by the bandwidth of the interferometer. In this paper, a high-bandwidth heterodyne laser interferometer for the measurement of high-intensity focused ultrasound pressure is developed and tested. The optical carrier with a frequency shift of 358 MHz is realized by means of an acousto-optic modulator. The selected electrical devices ensure that the electrical bandwidth can reach 1.5 GHz. The laser source adopts an iodine frequency-stabilized semiconductor laser with high-frequency spectral purity, which can reduce the influence of spectral purity on the bandwidth to a negligible level. The interference light path is integrated and encapsulated to improve the stability in use. An HIFU sound pressure measurement experiment is carried out, and the upper limit of the sound pressure measurement is obviously improved.

Improved heterodyne system using double-passed acousto-optic frequency shifters for measuring the frequency response of photodetectors in ultrasonic applications.

The improved heterodyne system is presented to measure the frequency response of photodetectors (PDs) with bandwidth about 100 MHz utilized in ultrasonic applications. In order to eliminate the periodic oscillation following the frequency tuning of the acousto-optic frequency shifters (AOFSs) in the measurement results, the AOFSs' double-passed scheme in Michelson interferometer is used. Compared with the AOFSs' single-passed configuration in Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the double-passed scheme can avoid additional optical alignment during the process of the frequency tuning and then reduce its induced measurement uncertainty. With two double-passed AOFSs connected in parallel, the experimental setup is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of the improved heterodyne system in the frequency range from 500 kHz to 135 MHz. Experimental results with measurement uncertainty are provided and discussed.

Influence of the frequency response of the photodetector on the heterodyne interferometer-based sound pressure standards in water.

The heterodyne interferometer has been used to realize the sound pressure unit directly and absolutely for underwater acoustics and ultrasound, which is considered as the primary standard of the hydrophone calibration instead of the reciprocity method. The widely used demodulation methods are the zero-crossing method and the arctangent method. Recent studies show that the frequency response of the utilized photodetector (PD) in the heterodyne interferometer also significantly influences the results of the sound pressure realization using the two demodulation methods, especially for the high-intensity focused ultrasound application, which is investigated in this paper. Simulations are performed to obtain general conclusions using different types of low-pass filters to simulate the nonideal frequency responses of the PD. Also, experimental results of the frequency response of the utilized PD are then used to analyze the induced relative error of the demodulated acoustic particle velocity so as to evaluate the related measurement uncertainty of the sound pressure realization. The simulation method is useful to choose the required PDs and evaluate the related measurement uncertainty induced by their frequency responses for the optical sound pressure standards and other optical measurement applications.

Spatial averaging effects of hydrophone on field characterization of planar transducer using Fresnel approximation.

The purpose of this work was to improve the existing models that allow spatial averaging effects of piezoelectric hydrophones to be accounted for. The model derived in the present study is valid for a planar source and was verified using transducers operating at 5 and 20MHz. It is based on Fresnel approximation and enables corrections for both on-axis and off-axis measurements. A single-integral approximate formula for the axial acoustic pressure was derived, and the validity of the Fresnel approximation in the near field of the planar transducer was examined. The numerical results obtained using 5 and 20MHz planar transmitters with an effective diameter of 12.7mm showed that the derived model could account for spatial averaging effects to within 0.2% with Beissner's exact integral (Beissner, 1981), for k(a+b)2≫π (where k is the circular wavenumber, and a and b are the effective radii of the transmitter and hydrophone, respectively). The field distributions along the acoustic axis and the beam directivity patterns are also included in the model. The spatial averaging effects of the hydrophone were generally observed to cause underestimation of the absolute pressure amplitudes of the acoustic beam, and overestimation of the cross-sectional size of the beam directivity pattern. However, the cross-sectional size of the directivity pattern was also found to be underestimated in the "far zone" (beyond Y0=a(2)/λ) of the transmitter. The results of this study indicate that the spatial averaging effect on the beam directivity pattern is negligible for π(γ(2)+4γ)s≪1 (where γ=b/a, and s is the normalized distance to the planar transducer).

Calibration of high-frequency hydrophone up to 40 MHz by heterodyne interferometer.

A calibration technique for high-frequency hydrophone utilizing a heterodyne interferometer is presented in this article. The calibration system is mainly composed of optical and signal processing modules. In the displacement measurement, a pellicle is mounted at the surface of water to avoid acousto-optical interaction. The phase modulated carrier signal is digitized and transferred to the computer, then processed by digital phase demodulation. A phase unwrapping algorithm is employed to remove ambiguity of the arctangent function and has proven effective in large displacement measurements. Pellicle displacement and voltage output of the hydrophone in focused ultrasonic field are processed by DFT to determine the amplitudes of the fundamental and harmonic components. Experiments show that the heterodyne technique can provide hydrophone calibration up to 40 MHz, with a slightly smaller sensitivity compared with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) calibration results for most frequency ranges. Since the heterodyne technique is independent on assumptions about the geometry of the ultrasonic field and the performance of the transducer, it can be easily extended to high frequency and high power ultrasound measurement applications.

Estimation of diffraction effect in ultrasonic attenuation by through-transmission substitution technique.

Measurement of ultrasonic attenuation is important in clinical and industrial applications. The overall goal of this research was to characterize the diffraction effect in ultrasonic attenuation. We have followed a systematic approach, beginning with the theoretical analysis of the calculation method using the transfer function of the signal spectrum, moving on to numerical computations and experimental confirmation. The relation of sample thickness to pulse duration is presented and the transmission coefficient of the sample for different propagation modes is discussed. Particular attention is paid to the diffraction effect which is easy to be neglected but a potential source of artifacts. Numerical computations demonstrated that lower frequencies, shorter transducer distances and larger velocity difference can result in significant diffraction effect. Due to the complexity of determining interface loss in Single Sample Substitution Method (SSM), Two Samples Substitution Method (TSM) was proposed to avoid this drawback. Comparison experiment with SSM illustrates that the proposed diffraction correction model is sound in theory and feasible in practice.