Carotid atherosclerotic plaque characterisation by measurement of ultrasound sound speed in vitro at high frequency, 20 MHz

This study aimed to utilise a tissue mimicking material (TMM) in order to embed in vitro carotid plaque tissue so that its acoustic properties could be assessed. Here, an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) agar-based TMM was adapted to a clear gel by removal of the particulates. This clear TMM was measured with sound speed at 1540 ms⁻¹ and an attenuation coefficient of 0.15 dB cm⁻¹ MHz⁻¹. Composite sound speed was then measured through the embedded material using a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM). Both broadband reflection and transmission techniques were performed on each plaque specimen in order to ensure the consistency of the measurement of sound speed, both at 21 °C and 37 °C. The plaque was measured at two temperatures to investigate any effect on the lipid content of the plaque. The contour maps from its associated attenuation plots were used to match the speed data to the photographic mask of the plaque outline. This physical matching was then used to derive the sound speed from the percentage composition seen in the histological data by solution of simultaneous equations. Individual speed values for five plaque components were derived; TMM, elastin, fibrous/collagen, calcification and lipid. The results for derived sound speed in the TMM were consistently close to the expected value of soft tissue, 1540 ms⁻¹. The fibrous tissue showed a mean value of 1584 ms⁻¹ at 37 °C. The derived sound speeds for elastic and lipid exhibited large inter-quartile ranges. The calcification had higher sound speed than the other plaque components at 1760–2000 ms⁻¹. The limitations here lay in the difficulties in the matching process caused by the inhomogeneity of the plaque material and shrinkage during the histological process. Future work may concentrate on more homogeneous material in order to derive sound speed data for separate components. Nevertheless, this study increases the known data ranges of the individual components within a plaque. This information may be used help to assess the mechanical properties and structural integrity and its associated vulnerability or risk of embolization in future diagnostic ultrasound techniques.     

Microfabrication of stacks of acoustic matching layers for 15 MHz ultrasonic transducers

This paper presents a novel method used to manufacture stacks of multiple matching layers for 15 MHz piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers, using fabrication technology derived from the MEMS industry. The acoustic matching layers were made on a silicon wafer substrate using micromachining techniques, i.e., lithography and etch, to design silicon and polymer layers with the desired acoustic properties. Two matching layer configurations were tested: a double layer structure consisting of a silicon–polymer composite and polymer and a triple layer structure consisting of silicon, composite, and polymer. The composite is a biphase material of silicon and polymer in 2-2 connectivity. The matching layers were manufactured by anisotropic wet etch of a (1 1 0)-oriented Silicon-on-Insulator wafer. The wafer was etched by KOH 40 wt%, to form 83 μm deep and 4.5 mm long trenches that were subsequently filled with Spurr’s epoxy, which has acoustic impedance 2.4 MRayl. This resulted in a stack of three layers: The silicon substrate, a silicon–polymer composite intermediate layer, and a polymer layer on the top. The stacks were bonded to PZT disks to form acoustic transducers and the acoustic performance of the fabricated transducers was tested in a pulse-echo setup, where center frequency, −6 dB relative bandwidth and insertion loss were measured. The transducer with two matching layers was measured to have a relative bandwidth of 70%, two-way insertion loss 18.4 dB and pulse length 196 ns. The transducers with three matching layers had fractional bandwidths from 90% to 93%, two-way insertion loss ranging from 18.3 to 25.4 dB, and pulse lengths 326 and 446 ns. The long pulse lengths of the transducers with three matching layers were attributed to ripple in the passband.     

High order shear horizontal modes for minimum remnant thickness

Thickness mapping in aging structures suffering from corrosion is challenging especially when the structure is only partially accessible. In plates the high order shear horizontal guided wave modes all have a cutoff frequency thickness product below which they cannot propagate. This property is potentially attractive to estimate the minimum remnant thickness between two transducers. When using a source and a sensor array it is possible to control the number of modes being excited and the size of the region interrogated by the technique. Finite element simulations were used to show that by exciting multiple guided wave modes simultaneously and identifying which modes are received by a sensor array it is possible to estimate the minimum remaining thickness along the propagation path. Initial experimental results showed excellent agreement with the finite element simulations when the plate is uniform and with a thickness reduction between the source and the sensor arrays the minimum remnant thickness was underestimated by approximately 20%.     

Optimization of a universal matchbox on an ultrasonic vibrating system

The main scope of the article is to investigate the effect of ferrite cores gap in a universal matchbox on an ultrasonic vibrating system. A gapped transformer mechanism in a universal matchbox has been thoroughly studied. Characteristics of an ultrasonic vibrating system have been recorded such as mechanical vibrations, inductance, resonant frequencies, current and voltage levels as the gap of ferrite cores gradually increases. In addition, the phase difference between the supplied voltage and the current is also computed and displayed in a Lissajous curve in order to determine the optimal gap between two ferrite cores in the universal matchbox. Explanations supplement the experiment results.     

Analytical investigation of response of birefringent fiber Bragg grating sensors in distributed monitoring system based on optical frequency domain reflectometry

When Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are used as strain sensors, both longitudinal and lateral strain can be applied uniformly or non-uniformly over the length of the FBGs. In order for the demodulation of such FBG signal, this paper investigates the response of birefringent FBGs which are monitored by distributed measurement system based on optical frequency domain reflectometry. A numerical model of the distributed measurement system is built based on piece-wise uniform approach, which considers polarization states of propagating lights. The numerical model simulates analytical response of birefringent FBGs especially when birefringence induces power fluctuations in the distributed spectra, which can be noise or new opportunity for sensitive monitoring of birefringence. Simulation results show the relationships between the power fluctuations and the polarization states of the propagating lights. Consequently, appropriate methods of polarization control for sensitive distributed birefringent FBG monitoring are discussed.     

Time-reversed lasing based on one-dimensional gratings

We show that a one-dimensional grating can generally exhibit time-reversed lasing better than a uniform slab. As the effective refractive index of a grating can be controlled by adjusting the geometric parameters, the time-reversed lasing can be realized for any incident wavelength in it. Moreover, the operating frequency range of coherently perfect absorption for a grating structure is remarkably broad compared with a uniform structure. All these behaviors are demonstrated with GaAs/Air gratings illuminated around 794.8 nm$794.8\text{nm}$. The properties of the proposed grating imply the potential applications such as detectors, transducers, and broad band absorber.     

Analyzing ultrafast multiplex coherent anti‐Stokes Raman spectra with picosecond probing

This article reports an efficient method to simulate time and frequency resolved coherent anti‐Stokes Raman scattering spectra measured with picosecond pump and probe fields and ultrashort Stokes pulses. A systematic comparison of measured and simulated time and frequency dependent data is presented for carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, cyclohexane, octane, and poly(methyl methacrylate). While the first compound exhibits no Raman active modes in the considered spectral region of the CH‐stretch vibrations, the other ones show Raman spectra of increasing complexity. Vibrational frequencies and homogeneous dephasing rates are extracted by fitting explicit analytical formulas to the recorded data. Interference between nonresonant and resonant contributions to the nonlinear polarization is taken fully into account. The ability to measure the influence of inhomogeneous broadening is discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于GPS和短波的高精度时钟系统研究与设计

介绍了全球定位系统GPS、短波授时技术;在对高稳恒温晶振及其频率特性进行分析的基础上,设计了一种基于GPS卫星、短波无线电授时的高精度时钟系统;系统通过利用GPS接收处理模块、短波授时接收模块得到的秒脉冲信号、时间信息,经过信号检测,时延修正处理、性能优选,脉冲数量统计、脉冲滤波与卡尔曼算法处理、PWM脉冲调压控制,实现对高稳恒温晶振频率的校准,获得一个短期及长期频率准确度都比较优良的时间频率标准,同时利用校频后恒温晶振分频出的1 pps信号对RTC时间芯片进行校准,对外输出高精度时间信息;对恒温晶振校频系统的基本工作原理及关键技术进行了详细说明,试验结果表明,在时间不长于1 h内,频率准确度优于0.9*10-9;该系统实用方便,达到了将恒温晶振校准到较高指标的目的。     

水平变化浅海声波导中模态特征频率与声源距离被动估计

针对水平变化浅海声波导中声源宽容性被动测距问题,理论分析了海底地形水平缓变浅海波导中卷绕变换基础上的低频声场特征频率.推导了绝对硬海底时水平变化波导中声场模态时频到达结构以及模态瞬时相位的表达式,由该表达式给出了特征频率与收发距离的变化关系,进而提出了水平变化浅海波导中声源距离被动估计的修正方法,通过仿真和实验对理论与方法进行了验证.     

正弦波导高频特性分析

对一种全金属慢波系统—–正弦波导的高频特性进行了理论分析.在用一系列相连矩形阶梯逼近余弦槽的基础上,对慢波结构进行了合理的区域划分,获得了各区域的场表达式.考虑槽区的高次驻波项,采用场匹配和导纳匹配相结合的方法,导出色散方程和耦合阻抗表达式.以应用于220 GHz行波管的正弦波导为例进行高频特性的数值求解,理论计算值与全三维电磁软件CST-MWS的仿真值符合良好.在此基础上,详细分析了尺寸参数变化对正弦波导高频特性的影响.