Goyal Rahul, Demeulenaere Oscar, Fournelle Marc, Athanassiadis Athanasios G, Fischer Peer
Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg, Germany.
Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2025 Aug 29;16(1):8091. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63517-9.
The ability to dynamically shape ultrasound fields is critical for emerging applications in therapeutic ultrasound, particle manipulation and tissue engineering. While existing phased arrays provide beam steering for imaging, these newer applications require higher intensities. This complicates the electrical driving and ultimately limits the array size and spatial complexity of the field. Here, we introduce a scalable architecture for driving phased arrays using a single power source and light-responsive analog phase shifters. Compared to conventional arrays, which drive each channel independently, our device only needs one amplifier. Moreover, the phase shift can be continuously varied between ±π based on light intensity. Using our phase shifter, we demonstrate dynamic, multi-focal ultrasound beams, fast beam steering, and spatially-complex beams including acoustic vortices. Because of its simple, analog design, optical addressing, and superior phase control, this architecture paves the way for very large transducer arrays and the generation of high-intensity, spatially-complex ultrasound fields.
动态塑造超声场的能力对于治疗超声、粒子操控和组织工程等新兴应用至关重要。虽然现有的相控阵可为成像提供波束控制，但这些新应用需要更高的强度。这使得电驱动变得复杂，并最终限制了阵列大小和场的空间复杂度。在此，我们介绍一种可扩展架构，用于使用单个电源和光响应模拟移相器驱动相控阵。与传统阵列独立驱动每个通道不同，我们的设备仅需一个放大器。此外，基于光强度，相移可在±π之间连续变化。使用我们的移相器，我们展示了动态多焦点超声束、快速波束控制以及包括声涡旋在内的空间复杂波束。由于其简单的模拟设计、光学寻址和卓越的相位控制，这种架构为超大型换能器阵列以及产生高强度、空间复杂超声场铺平了道路。
