Caltech researchers create ‘sound bullets’
April 22, 2010
Caltech researchers have built a nonlinear acoustic lens that produces highly focused, high-amplitude acoustic “sound bullets” that could be used for more powerful medical ultrasound imaging and for hyperthermia procedures.
The device is a longer version of a Newton’s cradle toy, which consists of a line of identical balls suspended from a frame by wires. In the lens, a pulse is excited at one end by an impact with a striker, and nonlinear waves are generated within chains of balls.
Concept drawing of a nonlinear acoustic lens used to generate a sound bullet for hyperthermia procedures. The colored spheres depict nonlinear acoustic waves traveling within sphere chains. The curvature of the wavefront is induced by precompressing each row, and is used to generate appropriate time delays to focus acoustic energy at a desired focal point. The stylized image depicts a sound bullet superposed onto a brain MR image (Spadoni & Daraio/Caltech).
More info: Caltech News