Sparsity-controlled acoustic vortex tweezer constructed by a 1024-element imaging matrix array probe

Acoustic tweezer has a promising capability for object manipulation in vivo under ultrasound image guidance by another linear probe. Compared to linear probes, matrix array probes can be used for acoustical vortex generation and real-time imaging. It inspired us to achieve real-time imaging and object trapping simultaneously using one single matrix probe. However, common ultrasound systems only have 256 channels or even fewer, and imaging matrix probes, such as Vermon, have a large number of elements which makes the generation of acoustical vortex using full elements challenging. In this study, we designed a sparsity-controlled acoustic vortex tweezer using Vermon 1024-element matrix probe. Then, we verified the feasibility of the sparse acoustical vortex by simulation and experiments. In the vitro experiments, we trapped microbubbles (MBs) successfully and reconstructed three profiles (X-Y, X-Z, Y-Z) images in real-time.