Experimental Study to Produce Multiple Focal Points of Acoustic Field for Active Path Selection of Microbubbles through Multi-bifurcation

Abstract

We previously reported our attempt to propel microbubbles in a flow by a primary Bjerknes force, which is a physical phenomenon where an acoustic wave pushes an obstacle along its direction of propagation. However, when ultrasound was emitted from the surface of the body, controlling bubbles in an against-flow was necessary. It is unpractical to use multiple transducers to produce the same number of focal points because single-element transducers cannot produce more than two focal points. In this study, we introduced a complex artificial blood vessel according to a capillary model and a two-dimensional (2D) array transducer to produce multiple focal points for the active control of microbubbles in an against-flow. From the results, about 15% more microbubbles were led to the desired path with multiple focal points of ultrasound relative to the no-emission case.