A Miniaturized Transducer for Sonothrombolysis with Vortex Phase Modulation

Vortex ultrasound based on phase modulation techniques has become one of the most fascinating frontiers of therapy including sonothrombolysis. But the most frequently used acoustic vortex generating method, multi-elements transducer array with independent and distinct components, can only be utilized in a limited quantity, have expensive constructions and circuitry, and require rigorous calibration and tuning, which restricts their potential uses. Based on Spiral Phase Plate (SPP) principle and Digital Light Processing (DLP) bottom-up printing method, we propose a miniaturized transducer combined with an SPP lens to generate vortex ultrasound for the sake of low complexity, cheap fabrication, and tunable flexibility. In this work, a 5.1 MHz transducer of a 2 mm × 2 mm aperture was developed generating an acoustic vortex with a distinguished angular phase change gradient and acceptable acoustic pressure maximum of 0.7 MPa in 4.4 mm distance away at 100V
pp
input.