Manipulation with sound and vibration: A review on the micromanipulation system based on sub-MHz acoustic waves

Manipulation of micro-objects have been playing an essential role in biochemical analysis or clinical diagnostics. Among the diverse technologies for micromanipulation, acoustic methods show the advantages of good biocompatibility, wide tunability, a label-free and contactless manner. Thus, acoustic micromanipulations have been widely exploited in micro-analysis systems. In this article, we reviewed the acoustic micromanipulation systems that were actuated by sub-MHz acoustic waves. In contrast to the high-frequency range, the acoustic microsystems operating at sub-MHz acoustic frequency are more accessible, whose acoustic sources are at low cost and even available from daily acoustic devices (e.g. buzzers, speakers, piezoelectric plates). The broad availability, with the addition of the advantages of acoustic micromanipulation, make sub-MHz microsystems promising for a variety of biomedical applications. Here, we review recent progresses in sub-MHz acoustic micromanipulation technologies, focusing on their applications in biomedical fields. These technologies are based on the basic acoustic phenomenon, such as cavitation, acoustic radiation force, and acoustic streaming. And categorized by their applications, we introduce these systems for mixing, pumping and droplet generation, separation and enrichment, patterning, rotation, propulsion and actuation. The diverse applications of these systems hold great promise for a wide range of enhancements in biomedicines and attract increasing interest for further investigation.     

Acoustic wavefront imaging

We introduce a new class of experiments which provide graphic insights into the propagation of acoustic waves in anisotropic media. Simply stated, we have devised a means of observing the expanding acoustic wavefront from a point disturbance in a solid. The data may be viewed as a movie or a series of snapshots. The observed wavefronts represent the group-velocity surfaces of acoustic waves, which reflect the basic elastic anisotropy of the solid. The technique has been applied to coherent acoustic waves with frequencies in the megahertz range (at ambient temperatures) and to incoherent heat pulses in the hundred-gigahertz range (at liquid-helium temperatures). In this article, we first provide a pedagogical introduction to wave propagation in elastically anisotropic media, reviewing some early methods for visualizing acoustic waves. Next, we describe the “acoustic wavefront imaging” method and give representative results in crystals and composite materials. Finally, we show how this method relates to recent advances in phonon imaging and internal diffraction of ultrasound.     

基于混合气体分子复合弛豫模型的一氧化碳浓度检测算法

研究了声波通过混合气体时,复合弛豫声吸收和声速与气体各成分浓度和声频率之间的依赖关系.以一氧化碳气体、水蒸气、氮气和氧气的混合气体为例,分别建立了弛豫声吸收和声速与气体浓度的三维模型,以及弛豫声吸收与声频率的二维模型.完成了通过测量弛豫声吸收和声速计算一氧化碳气体浓度的算法推导,提出了一种依据弛豫声吸收和声速检测气体浓度的简化算法.仿真实验结果不仅证明了算法的理论可行性,还给出了算法的最佳适用声频率范围,并估计了将算法应用于实验的误差原因,证明了算法具有实际可行性. 关键词： 气体浓度声学检测 一氧化碳浓度检测 复合弛豫声吸收 声速     

Theoretical investigation of an acoustic wave in molecular magnets via electromagnetically induced transparency

Using the Schrödinger-Maxwell equations, we theoretically investigate the propagation properties of a transverse acoustic wave in a crystal of molecular magnets in the presence of two strong ac resonant magnetic fields and a weak acoustic wave. The acoustic wave can freely propagate in the magnetic molecule medium (under appropriate conditions) due to quantum interference. Furthermore, using the slowly varying envelope approximation, we discuss the propagation equation of the acoustic wave, which includes the high order nonlinear term. The results show that a crystal of molecular magnets can support the propagation of acoustic wave solitons via electromagnetically induced transparency. We also obtain the analytical expressions for the phase shift and absorption coefficient of the acoustic wave within certain parameters.     

Review of Progress in Acoustic Levitation

Acoustic levitation uses acoustic radiation forces to counteract gravity and suspend objects in mid-air. Although acoustic levitation was first demonstrated almost a century ago, for a long time, it was limited to objects much smaller than the acoustic wavelength levitating at fixed positions in space. Recent advances in acoustic levitation now allow not only suspending but also rotating and translating objects in three dimensions. Acoustic levitation is also no longer restricted to small objects and can now be employed to levitate objects larger than the acoustic wavelength. This article reviews the progress of acoustic levitation, focusing on the working mechanism of different types of acoustic levitation devices developed to date. We start with a brief review of the theory. Then, we review the acoustic levitation methods to suspend objects at fixed positions, followed by the techniques that allow the manipulation of objects. Finally, we present a brief summary and offer some future perspectives for acoustic levitation.     

An ultra-thin acoustic metasurface with multiply resonant units

In this paper, we propose an ultra-thin acoustic metasurface constructed of multiply resonant units to manipulate reflected wavefront. As a counterpart to the Helmholtz resonator (with monopolar resonance) and membrane-type resonator (with dipolar resonance), the multiply resonator are used in metamaterials to induce strong quadrupolar resonance. Here we use the multiply resonator as a new kind of building blocks to make acoustic metasurfaces. The used multiply resonant unit is composed of solid materials, and the acoustic metasurface can work in a water background. We demonstrate that the proposed acoustic metasurface achieves good performance in anomalous reflection, focusing, and carpet cloaking. The thickness of the acoustic metasurface is about two orders of magnitude smaller than the acoustic wavelength in water. A design of unit group is further proposed to avoid the phase discretization becoming too fine in such a long-wavelength condition.     

第八讲水声通信及其研究进展

水声通信是当前唯一可在水下进行远程信息传输的通信形式，由于其在民用和军事上都有重大意义，水声通信的研究一直是国内外研究的热点．文章介绍了水声通信的特点、系统组成、发展历史和国内外的发展现状，最后简要介绍了文章作者在高速水声通信研究方面的成果和进展．     

Phase synchronization and collective interaction of multiple flamelets in a laboratory scale spray combustor

In this paper, we investigate the coupled behvior of the acoustic field in the confinement and the unsteady flame dynamics in a laboratory scale spray combustor. We study this interaction during the intermittency route to thermoacoustic instability when the location of the flame is varied inside the combustor. As the flame location is changed, the synchronization properties of the coupled acoustic pressure and heat release rate signals change from desynchronized aperiodicity (combustion noise) to phase synchronized periodicity (thermoacoustic instability) through intermittent phase synchronization (intermittency). We also characterize the collective interaction between the multiple flamelets anchored at the flame holder and the acoustic field in the system, during different dynamical states observed in the combustor operation. When the signals are desynchronized, we notice that the flamelets exhibit a steady combustion without the exhibition of a prominent feedback with the acoustic field. In a state of intermittent phase synchronization, we observe the existence of a short-term coupling between the heat release rate and the acoustic field. We notice that the onset of collective synchronization in the oscillations of multiple flamelets and the acoustic field leads to the simultaneous emergence of periodicity in the global dynamics of the system. This collective periodicity in both the subsystems causes enhancement of oscillations during epochs of amplitude growth in the intermittency signal. On the contrary, the weakening of the coupling induces suppression of periodic oscillations during epochs of amplitude decay in the intermittency signal. During phase synchronization, we notice a sustained synchronized movement of all flamelets with the periodicity of the acoustic cycle in the system.     

Parity-time symmetric acoustic system constructed by piezoelectric composite plates with active external circuits

Researches on parity-time (PT) symmetry in acoustic field can provide an efficient platform for controlling the travelling acoustic waves with balanced loss and gain. Here, we report a feasible design of PT-symmetric system constructed by piezoelectric composite plates with two different active external circuits. By judiciously adjusting the resistances and inductances in the external circuits, we obtain the exceptional point due to the spontaneous breaking of PT symmetry at the desired frequencies and can observe the unidirectional invisibility. Moreover, the system can be at PT exact phase or broken phase at the same frequency in the same structure by merely adjusting the external circuits, which represents the active control that makes the acoustic manipulation more convenient. Our study may provide a feasible way for manipulating acoustic waves and inspire the application of piezoelectric composite materials in acoustic structures.     

Generation and detection of acoustic solitons in crystalline slabs by laser ultrasonics

Acoustic solitons have been recently observed in different systems (Si, Sapphire, MgO, alpha-quartz). Such acoustic waves could lead to sub-picosecond acoustic pulses. In this paper, we report on the formation of acoustic solitons in a GaAs crystalline slab. A short picosecond acoustic pulse is generated by absorption of a femtosecond laser pulse in an aluminum thin film deposited on one side of the slab. This strain pulse travels through the sample up to the opposite side where it is detected by a time delayed laser pulse reflected by an aluminum transducer. We use interferometric detection to measure independently the real and imaginary parts of the relative change in optical reflectivity induced by the acoustic pulse. We find that, at low temperature and with a laser pump pulse energy of 10 nJ, an acoustic soliton clearly separates from the acoustic pulse in GaAs slab. The soliton shape is compared with numerical simulations for different excitation conditions. From the very unique properties of solitons, we infer a soliton pulse duration of about 2.3 ps which corresponds to a spatial extent of only 12 nm.     

声矢量传感器信号处理

声矢量传感器能够同步、共点、直接测量声场空间一点处声压和质点振速,从而有可能改善传统水声测量或探测设备的性能,为解决一些实际的水声问题拓展了新的思路。尽管声矢量传感器出现在水声领域的历史不算久,但是由于巨大的潜在军事需求牵引,它在最近十数年间的发展势头愈发地强劲,逐渐演变为不断被重视的水声技术之一。在此背景下,本文尝试综述声矢量传感器信号处理研究的当前进展,如信号检测、 DOA估计、波束形成等。     

Analytical and numerical calculations of optimum design frequency for focused ultrasound therapy and acoustic radiation force

Focused ultrasound therapy relies on acoustic power absorption by tissue. The stronger the absorption the higher the temperature increase is. However, strong acoustic absorption also means faster attenuation and limited penetration depth. Hence, there is a trade-off between heat generation efficacy and penetration depth. In this paper, we formulated the acoustic power absorption as a function of frequency and attenuation coefficient, and defined two figures of merit to measure the power absorption: spatial peak of the acoustic power absorption density, and the acoustic power absorbed within the focal area. Then, we derived “rule of thumb” expressions for the optimum frequencies that maximized these figures of merit given the target depth and homogeneous tissue type. We also formulated a method to calculate the optimum frequency for inhomogeneous tissue given the tissue composition for situations where the tissue structure can be assumed to be made of parallel layers of homogeneous tissue. We checked the validity of the rules using linear acoustic field simulations. For a one-dimensional array of 4 cm acoustic aperture, and for a two-dimensional array of 4 × 4 cm² acoustic aperture, we found that the power absorbed within the focal area is maximized at 0.86 MHz, and 0.79 MHz, respectively, when the target depth is 4 cm in muscle tissue. The rules on the other hand predicted the optimum frequencies for acoustic power absorption as 0.9 MHz and 0.86 MHz, respectively for the 1D and 2D array case, which are within 6% and 9% of the field simulation results. Because radiation force generated by an acoustic wave in a lossy propagation medium is approximately proportional to the acoustic power absorption, these rules can be used to maximize acoustic radiation force generated in tissue as well.     

Acoustic vector sensor signal processing

Acoustic vector sensor simultaneously, colocately and directly measures orthogonal components of particle velocity as well as pressure at single point in acoustic field so that is possible to improve performance of traditional underwater acoustic measurement devices or detection systems and extends new ideas for solving practical underwater acoustic engineering problems. Although acoustic vector sensor history of appearing in underwater acoustic area is no long, but with huge and potential military demands, acoustic vector sensor has strong development trend in last decade, it is evolving into a one of important underwater acoustic technology. Under this background, we try to review recent progress in study on acoustic vector sensor signal processing, such as signal detection, DOA estimation, beamforming, and so on.     

声场重构的声辐射模态阶数分析

利用声辐射模态法对椭球状声源辐射声场进行重构,分析了模态阶数对相对误差的影响,以及模态阶数与频率的关系;同时深入探讨了声源形状变化对模态阶数选取的影响。研究发现利用较少的模态阶数即可得到很好的重构效果,且声源形状的变化对重构所需模态阶数的影响较小,因此可将该方法用于任意形状声源的重构,体现了此方法在声场重构中的优越性。     

海洋-声学耦合模式捕捉水声环境不确定性

考虑到海洋环境的时空变化对水声环境不确定性的影响,建立了海洋-声学耦合数值模式,实现了并行计算。该模式将声学计算纳入到运动的海洋中,从而实现了对水声环境的动态预报和估计。同时,采用集合预报方法对典型断面的温度垂直结构、实验海区声速剖面和传播损失进行预报,并给出了声速剖面的预报误差、不同深度与频率下,传播损失90%的概率区间以及声速、传播损失、声呐作用距离的不确定性直方图。结果反映了海洋时空变化对水声环境不确定性的影响,量化了水声环境中不确定性的大小。实验结果表明该方法可以刻画海洋动态变化引起的水声环境不确定性,并对其进行了量化和描述。     

Capturing uncertainties of the underwater acoustic environment based on an ocean-acoustic coupled model

Considering the uncertain effects of temporal and spatial changes in the marine environment on the underwater acoustic environment,we established an ocean-acoustic coupled numerical model and performed a parallel calculation.This model incorporated acoustic calculations into the dynamic ocean,thereby achieving a dynamic forecasting and assessment of the acoustic environment.Furthermore,we adopted the ensemble prediction method to predict the vertical structure of temperature in a classic cross-section,the sound speed of the cross-section of the investigated sea area,and transmission losses.We gave the prediction errors of the sound speed profile as well as the 90%probability interval of transmission losses and the uncertainty histograms of the sound speeds,transmission losses,and sonar ranges at different depths and frequencies.The results reflected the influence of marine temporal and spacial variations on the uncertainties of the underwater acoustic environment,and the results also quantified the uncertainties of the underwater acoustic environment parameters.The experimental results indicate that the method used in this study is able to delineate and quantify the uncertainties of the underwater acoustic environment caused by marine dynamic changes.     

Using Helmholtz resonator arrays to improve dipole transmission efficiency in waveguide

It is well known that the radiation efficiency of an acoustic dipole is very low, increasing the radiation efficiency of an acoustic dipole is a difficult task, especially in an ordinary waveguide.In addition, current acoustic superlenses all utilize in-phase sources to do the super-resolution imaging, it is almost impossible to realize super-resolution imaging of an acoustic dipole.In this paper, after using the Helmholtz resonator arrays(HRAs) which are placed at the upper and lower surfaces of the waveguide, we observe a large dipole radiation efficiency at the certain frequency, which gives a method to observe an acoustic dipole in the far field and offers a novel model which is promising to realize the superlens with a source of an acoustic dipole.We discuss how the arrangement of HRAs affects the transmission of the acoustic dipole.     

Determination of acoustic impedances of multi matching layers for narrowband ultrasonic airborne transducers at frequencies <2.5 MHz - Application of a genetic algorithm

The effective ultrasonic energy radiation into the air of piezoelectric transducers requires using multilayer matching systems with accurately selected acoustic impedances and the thickness of particular layers. One major problem of ultrasonic transducers, radiating acoustic energy into air, is to find the proper acoustic impedances of one or more matching layers. This work aims at developing an original solution to the acoustic impedance mismatch between transducer and air. If the acoustic impedance defences between transducer and air be more, then finding best matching layer(s) is harder. Therefore we consider PZT (lead zirconate titanate piezo electric) transducer and air that has huge acoustic impedance deference. The vibration source energy (PZT), which is used to generate the incident wave, consumes a part of the mechanical energy and converts it to an electrical one in theoretical calculation. After calculating matching layers, we consider the energy source as layer to design a transducer. However, this part of the mechanical energy will be neglected during the mathematical work. This approximation is correct only if the transducer is open-circuit. Since the possibilities of choosing material with required acoustic impedance are limited (the counted values cannot always be realized and applied in practice) it is necessary to correct the differences between theoretical values and the possibilities of practical application of given acoustic impedances. Such a correction can be done by manipulating other parameters of matching layers (e.g. by changing their thickness). The efficiency of the energy transmission from the piezoceramic transducer through different layers with different thickness and different attenuation enabling a compensation of non-ideal real values by changing their thickness was computer analyzed (base on genetic algorithm). Firstly, three theoretical solutions were investigated. Namely, Chebyshev, Desilets and Souquet theories. However, the obtained acoustic impedances do not necessarily correspond to a nowadays available material. Consequently, the values of the acoustic impedances are switched to the nearest values in a large material database. The switched values of the acoustic impedances do not generally give efficient transmission coefficients. Therefore, we proposed, in a second step, the use of a genetic algorithm (GA) to select the best acoustic impedances for matching layers from the material database for a narrow band ultrasonic transducer that work at frequency below the 2.5 MHz by considering attenuation. However this bank is rich, the results get better. So the accuracy of the propose method increase by using a lot of materials with exact data for acoustic impedance and their attenuation, especially in high frequency. This yields highly more efficient transmission coefficient. In fact by using increasing number of layer we can increase our chance to find the best sets of materials with valuable both in acoustic impedance and low attenuation. Precisely, the transmission coefficient is almost equal to unity for the all studied cases. Finally the effect of thickness on transmission coefficient is investigated for different layers. The results showed that the transmission coefficient for air media is a function of thickness and sensitive to it even for small variation in thickness. In fact, the sensitivity increases when the differences of acoustic impedances to be high (difference between PZT and air).     

B型超声诊断仪凸阵探头复合聚焦声场的研究

本文对B型超声诊断仪中广泛使用的凸阵探头的复合聚焦声场进行了研究,给出了复合聚焦情况下电子延迟聚焦和等效于几何聚焦的延迟时间。利用亥姆霍兹积分公式给出了电子聚焦和复合聚焦情况下的声场表达式,利用辛普森数值积分在86/330微机上进行了大量的模拟计算,通过改变阵的参数,选出了比较理想的四段电子和复合聚焦的聚焦范围和波束宽度。
对计算结果进行比较可得:横向透镜并不影响侧向的聚焦范围和波束宽度,而只增大声压的幅值(即能量更集中了),反之亦然。
在3.5MHz工作频率下,侧向聚焦范围可达10cm而波束宽度不超过3.5mm;横向聚焦范围在5.5cm时,波束宽度小于4mm,在7.5MHz工作频率时,侧向聚焦范围可达6cm而波束宽度小于1.2mm,数值计算还给出了凸阵孔径及阵元高度对侧向聚焦范围及波束宽度的影响。     

The effect of ultrasound on bulk and surface nanobubbles: A review of the current status

The generation, and stability of nanobubbles are of particular interest for fundamental research and have potential application in numerous fields. Several attempts were made in the literature to produce nanobubbles through acoustic cavitation. However, the generation and stability mechanisms of nanobubbles in the acoustic field are unclear. Here, we review the effect of ultrasound parameters on bulk nanobubbles and surface nanobubbles. On this basis, we discuss the proposed generation and stability mechanisms of nanobubbles from the perspective of transient and stable acoustic cavitation. Moreover, we propose some future research directions for a deeper understanding of the role of ultrasound in the generation and stability of nanobubbles.