Programmable ultrafast multichannel ultrasound transmitter and receiver

• Subject Area: Systems Engineering
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 553171762

The applicants have invented a method that can generate sophisticated ultrasound pressure images with unprecedented detail. It is based on the acoustic hologram which can be used to shape the wavefront of any sound source such that it recreates desired intensity patterns in space. This advance opens up many new possibilities for the generation and application of ultrasound. These include the spatially defined projection of ultrasound into matter that in turn can be used to interact with ultrasound-responsive features, for instance carriers whose payload can be released when excited by ultrasound. In order to observe and follow the interaction of the carriers with the holographic ultrasound fields, a multichannel receiver is needed. In addition, ultrasound intensity patterns generate radiation forces and induce fluid flows, which can in turn be used to assemble particles and biological cells in solution. This has led to a new form of quasi-instantaneous bio-fabrication, where cells can be assembled in response to the hologram-generated ultrasound patterns, including in 3D. Here, a multichannel ultrasound transmitter, that can be programmed, is highly beneficial, as it can be used to improve the bioprinting process. The programmable ultrafast multichannel ultrasound transmitter and receiver will be a universally useful instrument to map sophisticated 3D ultrasound fields, to image contrast agents interacting with such ultrasound fields, including a new class of contrast agents that are based on anti-bubbles, and to generate synchronized electrical signals for arrays of sound sources that can in turn be used to improve and extend the capabilities offered by the acoustic hologram.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Programmierbarer Mehrkanal Ultraschall Sender und Empfänger
• Instrumentation Group: 4120 Ultraschall-Materialprüfgeräte
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Leader: Professor Dr. Peer Fischer