[en] Ultrasound is a powerful tool for diagnosing medical and mechanical problems. Conventional ultrasonics work at megahertz frequencies and with wavelengths of 1-2mms to 10’s mm. This means it cannot "see" very small objects at the nanoscale. Our new transducers are so small it is impractical to communicate with them electrically. Instead we have devised a non contact method of talking to them using short pulses of laser light.
We have adopted two approaches for producing these transducers, one method builds plates devices the other uses self assembled nanoparticles. The transducers are made from alternating metal and soft transparent layers. They have optical and mechanical resonances and so the devices have to be made such that they work well both mechanically and optically
Research Center/Unit :
University of Nottingham
Disciplines :
Engineering, computing & technology: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Arca, Ahmet; University of Nottingham > Faculty of Engineering > Applied Optics group, Division of Electrical Systems and Optics
Dispas, Amandine ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de pharmacie > Chimie analytique
Jamie, Twycross; University of Nottingham > Centre for Plant Integrative Biology
Aylott, Jon; University of Nottingham > School of pharmacy > Laboratory of biophysics and surface analysis
Clark, Matt; University of Nottingham > Faculty of Engineering > Applied Optics Group, Division of Electrical Systems ans Optics
Krasnogor, Natalio; University of Nottingham > School of Computer Science
Smith, Richard; University of Nottingham > Faculty of Engineering > Applied Optics Group, Division of Electrical Systems and Optics
Stratoudaki, Teti; University of Nottingham > Faculty of Engineering > Applied Optics Group, Division of Electrical Systems ans Optics
Chen, Xuesheng; University of Nottingham > Faculty of Engineering > Applied Optics Group, Division of Electrical Systems and Optics
Language :
English
Title :
Nano-ultrasonics sensors
Publication date :
November 2010
Event name :
Frontiers in interface physics : microfluidics, biomembranes and nanostructures
Event organizer :
A. Hernández-Machado (U. Barcelona) R. Cuerno (U. Carlos III) M. Castro (U. Pontificia Comillas) L. Vázquez (ICMM. CSIC) J. M. López (IFCA - CSIC- UC)
