Reliable estimation of virtual source position for SAFT imaging.

The synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT), employing a scanned focused transducer as a virtual source, is commonly used to image flaws in immersion testing. The position of a virtual source is estimated from rays emitted from the rim of a focused transducer. However, it is often found that the virtual source position cannot be uniquely determined because of severe focal spot aberration at the focal zone. Based on an analysis of the energy radiated from the focused transducer and the refracted energy varied with the incident angle of ultrasound, we propose that paraxial rays emitted from the focused transducer are the best for estimating the position of a virtual source for incorporation into SAFT. This study results also shows that by using this simple virtual source position estimation for SAFT, the axial resolution and SNR of the reconstructed image can be greatly improved. This new approach minimizes the effect of such factors as refraction at high-velocity-contrast interfaces, distance of the transducer to the couplant-specimen interface, and the focal length of a focused transducer, which may cause focal spot aberration resulting in decreased sensitivity in SAFT imaging.

Electromagnetic acoustic imaging.

Electromagnetic acoustic imaging (EMAI) is a new imaging technique that uses long-wavelength RF electromagnetic (EM) waves to induce ultrasound emission. Signal intensity and image contrast have been found to depend on spatially varying electrical conductivity of the medium in addition to conventional acoustic properties. The resultant conductivity- weighted ultrasound data may enhance the diagnostic performance of medical ultrasound in cancer and cardiovascular applications because of the known changes in conductivity of malignancy and blood-filled spaces. EMAI has a potential advantage over other related imaging techniques because it combines the high resolution associated with ultrasound detection with the generation of the ultrasound signals directly related to physiologically important electrical properties of the tissues. Here, we report the theoretical development of EMAI, implementation of a dual-mode EMAI/ultrasound apparatus, and successful demonstrations of EMAI in various phantoms designed to establish feasibility of the approach for eventual medical applications.

Pulse inversion chirp coded tissue harmonic imaging (PI-CTHI) of Zebrafish heart using high frame rate ultrasound biomicroscopy.

This paper reports a pulse inversion chirp coded tissue harmonic imaging (PI-CTHI) method for visualizing small animal hearts that provides fine spatial resolution at a high frame rate without sacrificing the echo signal to noise ratio (eSNR). A 40 MHz lithium niobate (LiNbO(3)) single element transducer is employed to evaluate the performance of PI-CTHI by scanning tungsten wire targets, spherical anechoic voids, and zebrafish hearts. The wire phantom results show that PI-CTHI improves the eSNR by 4 dB from that of conventional pulse inversion tissue harmonic imaging (PI-THI), while still maintaining a spatial resolution of 88 and 110 µm in the axial and lateral directions, respectively. The range side lobe level of PI-CTHI is 11 dB lower than that of band-pass filtered CTHI (or F-CTHI). In the anechoic sphere phantom study, the contrast-to-noise ratio of PI-CTHI is found to be 2.7, indicating a 34% enhancement over conventional PI-THI. Due to such improved eSNR and contrast resolution, blood clots in zebrafish hearts can be readily visualized throughout heart regeneration after 20% of the ventricle is removed. Disappearance of the clots in the early stages of the regeneration has been observed for 7 days without sacrificing the fish.

NOVEL LEAD ZIRCONATE TITANATE COMPOSITE VIA FREEZING TECHNOLOGY FOR HIGH FREQUENCY TRANSDUCER APPLICATIONS.

Novel PZT-5A ceramic-polymer composite was prepared via freezing technology. This composite exhibited good dielectric and ferroelectric behaviors. At 1 kHz, the dielectric constant and the dielectric loss were 546 and 0.046, respectively, while the remnant polarization was 13.0 µC/cm(2) at room temperature. The electromechanical coupling coefficient (k(t)) of PZT-5A composite was measured to be 0.54, which is similar to that of PZT piezoelectric ceramic. The piezoelectric coefficient (d(33)) of PZT-5A composite was determined to be ~250 pC/N. Using this composite, a 58MHz single element transducer with the bandwidth of 70% at -6dB was built, and the insertion loss was tested to be -29dB around the central frequency.

Ultrasonic Doppler measurements of blood flow velocity of rabbit retinal vessels using a 45-MHz needle transducer.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to measure blood flow velocity of rabbit retinal vessels using a 45-MHz ultrasonic Doppler system with a needle transducer. METHODS: A high-frequency pulsed Doppler system that utilizes a 45-MHz PMN-PT needle transducer was developed to measure retinal blood flow velocity in situ. The pulsed Doppler allowed the differentiation of retinal from choroidal blood flow velocity. The needle transducer was inserted into the vitreous cavity through a 20-gauge incision port to access the retinal vessels. The first phase of the experiment evaluated the reproducibility of the measurements. The second phase measured velocities at four positions from the optic disc edge to the distal part of each vessel in nine eyes for the temporal and six eyes for the nasal portions. The angle between the transducer and the retinal vessel at each site was measured in enucleated rabbit eyes to estimate and compensate for measurement errors. RESULTS: In the first phase, the average measurement error was 5.97 +/- 1.34%. There was no significant difference comparing all eyes. In the second phase, the velocities gradually slowed from the disc edge to the distal part, and temporal velocities were faster than nasal velocities at all measurement sites. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the feasibility of reliably measuring retinal blood flow velocity using a 45-MHz ultrasonic Doppler system with a needle transducer.

Multiple matching scheme for broadband 0.72Pb(Mg(13)Nb(23))O(3)-0.28PbTiO(3) single crystal phased-array transducer.

Lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate single crystal 0.72Pb(Mg(13)Nb(23))O(3)-0.28PbTiO(3) (abbreviated as PMN-PT) was used to fabricate high performance ultrasonic phased-array transducer as it exhibited excellent piezoelectric properties. In this paper, we focus on the design and fabrication of a low-loss and wide-band transducer for medical imaging applications. A KLM model based simulation software PiezoCAD was used for acoustic design of the transducer including the front-face matching and backing. The calculated results show that the -6 dB transducer bandwidth can be improved significantly by using double lambda8 matching layers and hard backing. A 4.0 MHz PMN-PT transducer array (with 16 elements) was fabricated and tested in a pulse-echo arrangement. A -6 dB bandwidth of 110% and two-way insertion loss of -46.5 dB were achieved.

Self-separated hydrothermal lead zirconate titanate thick films for high frequency transducer applications.

Using a simple rapid heating process, Pb(Zr(0.52)Ti(0.48))O(3) (PZT) thick films prepared by hydrothermal method were separated from a Ti substrate. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the self-separated films were crack-free. After solution infiltration and high temperature annealing, the PZT thick films were shown to possess good electric properties. At 1 kHz, the dielectric constant and the loss were 593 and 0.05, respectively. The remnant polarization was 30.0 muCcm(2) at room temperature. A high frequency single element ultrasound transducer fabricated with these films showed a bandwidth at -6 dB of 73% at a center frequency of 67 MHz.

Lead-free KNLNT piezoelectric ceramics for high-frequency ultrasonic transducer application.

This paper presents the latest development of a lead-free piezoelectric ceramic and its application to transducers suitable for high-frequency ultrasonic imaging. A lead-free piezoelectric ceramic with formula of (K(0.5)Na(0.5))(0.97)Li(0.03)(Nb(0.9) Ta(0.1))O(3) (abbreviated as KNLNT-0.03/0.10) was fabricated and characterized. The material was found to have a clamped dielectric constant epsilon(33)(S)/epsilon(0)=890, piezoelectric coefficient d(33)=245 pC/N, electromechanical coupling factor k(t)=0.42 and Curie temperature T(c)>300 degrees C. High-frequency (40 MHz) ultrasound transducers were successfully fabricated with the lead-free material. A representative lead-free transducer had a bandwidth of 45%, two-way insertion loss of -18 dB. This performance is comparable to reported performances of popular lead-based transducers. The comparison results suggest that the lead-free piezoelectric material may serve as an alternative to lead-based piezoelectric materials for high-frequency ultrasonic transducer applications.

Multifunctional catheters combining intracardiac ultrasound imaging and electrophysiology sensing.

A family of 3 multifunctional intracardiac imaging and electrophysiology (EP) mapping catheters has been in development to help guide diagnostic and therapeutic intracardiac EP procedures. The catheter tip on the first device includes a 7.5 MHz, 64-element, side-looking phased array for high resolution sector scanning. The second device is a forward-looking catheter with a 24-element 14 MHz phased array. Both of these catheters operate on a commercial imaging system with standard software. Multiple EP mapping sensors were mounted as ring electrodes near the arrays for electrocardiographic synchronization of ultrasound images and used for unique integration with EP mapping technologies. To help establish the catheters' ability for integration with EP interventional procedures, tests were performed in vivo in a porcine animal model to demonstrate both useful intracardiac echocardiographic (ICE) visualization and simultaneous 3-D positional information using integrated electroanatomical mapping techniques. The catheters also performed well in high frame rate imaging, color flow imaging, and strain rate imaging of atrial and ventricular structures. The companion paper of this work discusses the catheter design of the side-looking catheter with special attention to acoustic lens design. The third device in development is a 10 MHz forward-looking ring array that is to be mounted at the distal tip of a 9F catheter to permit use of the available catheter lumen for adjunctive therapy tools.

Realtime photoacoustic microscopy of murine cardiovascular dynamics.

Non-invasive visualization of cardiovascular dynamics in small animals is challenging due to their rapid heart-rates. We present a realtime photoacoustic imaging system consisting of a 30-MHz ultrasound array transducer, receive electronics, a high-repetition-rate laser, and a multicore-computer, and demonstrate its ability to image optically-absorbing structures of the beating hearts of young athymic nude mice at rates of approximately 50 frames per second with 100 microm x 25 microm spatial resolution. To our knowledge this is the first report of realtime photoacoustic imaging of physiological dynamics.

Self-focused ZnO transducers for ultrasonic biomicroscopy.

A simple fabrication technique was developed to produce high frequency (100 MHz) self-focused single element transducers with sputtered zinc oxide (ZnO) crystal films. This technique requires the sputtering of a ZnO film directly onto a curved backing substrate. Transducers were fabricated by sputtering an 18 µm thick ZnO layer on 2 mm diameter aluminum rods with ends shaped and polished to produce a 2 mm focus or f-number equal to one. The aluminum rod served a dual purpose as the backing layer and positive electrode for the resultant transducers. A 4 µm Parylene matching layer was deposited on the transducers after housing and interconnect. This matching layer was used to protect the substrate and condition the transfer of acoustic energy between the ZnO film and the load medium. The pulse-echo response for a representative transducer was centered at 101 MHz with a -6 dB bandwidth of 49%. The measured two way insertion loss was 44 dB. A tungsten wire phantom and an adult zebrafish eye were imaged to show the capability of these transducers.

Self-focused ZnO transducers for ultrasonic biomicroscopy.

A simple fabrication technique was developed to produce high frequency (100 MHz) self-focused single element transducers with sputtered zinc oxide (ZnO) crystal films. This technique requires the sputtering of a ZnO film directly onto a curved backing substrate. Transducers were fabricated by sputtering an 18 mum thick ZnO layer on 2 mm diameter aluminum rods with ends shaped and polished to produce a 2 mm focus or f-number equal to one. The aluminum rod served a dual purpose as the backing layer and positive electrode for the resultant transducers. A 4 mum Parylene matching layer was deposited on the transducers after housing and interconnect. This matching layer was used to protect the substrate and condition the transfer of acoustic energy between the ZnO film and the load medium. The pulse-echo response for a representative transducer was centered at 101 MHz with a -6 dB bandwidth of 49%. The measured two way insertion loss was 44 dB. A tungsten wire phantom and an adult zebrafish eye were imaged to show the capability of these transducers.

Hybrid Optical-Ultrasonic Technique for Biomedical Diagnostics.

We report the development of a diagnostic system combining time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and ultrasound backscatter microscopy and its application in diagnosis of tumors and atherosclerotic disease. This system allows for concurrent evaluation of distinct compositional, functional, and micro-anatomical features of normal and diseased tissues.

Piezoelectric PZT thick films on LaNiO(3) buffered stainless steel foils for flexible device applications.

In this paper, we report on 4.5µm piezoelectric Pb(Zr(0.52)Ti(0.48))O(3) (PZT) thick films deposited on flexible stainless steel (SS) foils with LaNiO(3) (LNO) buffer layers using a ceramic powder/sol-gel solution modified composite method. The polycrystalline thick films show a hysteresis loop at an applied electric field of 900 kV cm(-1) with remanent polarization and coercive electric field values of 27µC cm(-2) and 85 kV cm(-1), respectively. At 1 kHz, the dielectric constant is 653 and the dielectric loss is 0.052. The leakage current density of the film is lower than 1.55 × 10(-5) Acm(-2) over the range of 0 to ±150V. The conduction current shows ohmic behaviour at a low electric field and space-charge-limited current characteristics at a high electric field.

Nano-structured TiO(2) film fabricated at room temperature and its acoustic properties.

Nano-structured TiO(2) thin film has been successfully fabricated at room temperature. Using a quarter wavelength characterization method, we have measured the acoustic impedance of this porous film, which can be adjusted from 5.3 to 7.19 Mrayl by curing it at different temperatures. The uniform microstructure and easy fabrication at room temperature make this material an excellent candidate for matching layers of ultra-high frequency ultrasonic imaging transducers.

Temperature dependence of oriented growth of Pb[Yb(1/2)Nb(1/2)]O(3)-PbTiO(3) thin films deposited on LNO/Si substrates.

(1-x)Pb[Yb(1/2)Nb(1/2)]O(3)-xPbTiO(3) (PYbN-PT, x=0.5)(001) oriented thin films were deposited onto LaNiO3 (LNO)/Si(001) substrates by sol-gel processing. The crystallographic texture of the films was controlled by the annealing temperature and heating rate. Highly (001) oriented LNO thin films were prepared by a simple metal organic decomposition technique, and the samples were annealed at 700 °C and 750 °C using a rapid thermal annealing process and furnace, respectively. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the films of PYbN-PT were highly (001) oriented along LNO/Si substrates. The degree of PYbN-PT orientation is dependent on the heating rate and annealing temperature. Annealing heating rate of 10 °C/s and high annealing temperature near 750 °C produce the greatest degree of (001) orientation, which gives rise to improved dielectric properties.

PMN-PT single crystal thick films on silicon substrate for high-frequency micromachined ultrasonic transducers.

In this work, a novel high-frequency ultrasonic transducer structure is realized by using PMNPT-on-silicon technology and silicon micromachining. To prepare the single crystalline PMNPT-on-silicon wafers, a hybrid processing method involving wafer bonding, mechanical lapping and wet chemical thinning is successfully developed. In the transducer structure, the active element is fixed within the stainless steel needle housing. The measured center frequency and -6 dB bandwidth of the transducer are 35 MHz and 34%, respectively. Owing to the superior electromechanical coupling coefficient (k(t)) and high piezoelectric constant (d(33)) of PMNPT film, the transducer shows a good energy conversion performance with a very low insertion loss down to 8.3 dB at the center frequency.

High frequency broadband PZT thick film ultrasonic transducers for medical imaging applications.

A modified sol-gel method is used to prepare PZT thick film on Pt-coated silicon substrate. A new method of vacuum filling sol-gel precursor solution is introduced to improve film quality. The effects of the filling on PZT thick film structure and ferroelectric properties are discussed. The fabrication of a high frequency transducer with the PZT film as the actuating layer is described. The performance of the transducer is measured and results show that the transducer backed by E-Solder without a matching layer has a center frequency of 103 MHz and a bandwidth of 70%. Beam profile measurements show that the transducer has an axial resolution of 9.2 microm and a lateral resolution of 33 microm.

Diagnosis of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques by time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and ultrasound imaging.

In this study, time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (TR-LIFS) and ultrasonography were applied to detect vulnerable (high-risk) atherosclerotic plaque. A total of 813 TR-LIFS measurements were taken from carotid plaques of 65 patients, and subsequently analyzed using the Laguerre deconvolution technique. The investigated spots were classified by histopathology as thin, fibrotic, calcified, low-inflamed, inflamed and necrotic lesions. Spectral and time-resolved parameters (normalized intensity values and Laguerre expansion coefficients) were extracted from the TR-LIFS data. Feature selection for classification was performed by either analysis of variance (ANOVA) or principal component analysis (PCA). A stepwise linear discriminant analysis algorithm was developed for detecting inflamed and necrotic lesion, representing the most vulnerable plaques. These vulnerable plaques were detected with high sensitivity (>80%) and specificity (>90%). Ultrasound (US) imaging was obtained in 4 carotid plaques in addition to TR-LIFS examination. Preliminary results indicate that US provides important structural information of the plaques that could be combined with the compositional information obtained by TR-LIFS, to obtain a more accurate diagnosis of vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque.

The principle of multidimensional arrays.

Echocardiography is one of the most important diagnostic tools in cardiology today. One-dimensional phased arrays have been used extensively because they have a small footprint and allow beam steering. Their major limitation lies in that these devices can only be used to acquire images of two-dimensional slices in real-time and that the slice thickness cannot be controlled. To allow real-time three-dimensional imaging of the heart and focusing of the ultrasonic beam in two-dimensional, two-dimensional arrays, the design and fabrication of which are enormous engineering challenges, are required. Before reaching this ultimate goal, limited focusing in the elevational plane can be achieved with 1.5-dimensional arrays. Focusing in the elevational plane allows a reduction in slice thickness and thus an improvement in the image quality over a larger depth of view.