Opto-acoustic methods and apparatus for perfoming high resolution acoustic imaging and other sample probing and modification operations
First Claim
1. An opto-acoustic transducer assembly comprising:
- a substrate comprised of material which is transparent to light used with the opto-acoustic transducer assembly;
a layer of opto-acoustic material formed on a surface of the substrate, where the layer of opto-acoustic material generates sound waves when struck by light; and
an acoustic lens to focus sound waves generated by the layer of opto-acoustic material.
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Abstract
One aspect of the present invention concerns scanning acoustic microscopes in which sound waves used for imaging purposes are generated by an opto-acoustical process. A scanning acoustic microscope of the present invention includes an opto-acoustic transducer assembly having a substrate. Formed in the substrate of the opto-acoustic transducer assembly is a layer of opto-acoustic material. When pulsed light waves impinge the layer of opto-acoustic material, pulsed sound waves are created. An acoustic lens also formed in the substrate focuses the pulsed sound waves which are then used to probe the physical and mechanical properties of a sample object. Pulsed sound waves reflecting off the sample object return to the opto-acoustic transducer where the pulsed sound waves impinge the layer of opto-acoustic material. The impinging sound waves change at least one optical property of the layer of opto-acoustic material. This change, which is dependent on changes to the pulsed sound waves caused by the interaction of the pulsed sound waves and the sample object, is then sensed using pulsed light waves. In one possible embodiment of the present invention, the layer of opto-acoustic material is deposited on the substrate in a plurality of non-contiguous concentric rings. The plurality of non-contiguous concentric rings operates as an acoustic analogue of a Fresnel lens.
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Citations
76 Claims
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1. An opto-acoustic transducer assembly comprising:
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a substrate comprised of material which is transparent to light used with the opto-acoustic transducer assembly;
a layer of opto-acoustic material formed on a surface of the substrate, where the layer of opto-acoustic material generates sound waves when struck by light; and
an acoustic lens to focus sound waves generated by the layer of opto-acoustic material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A transducer assembly for use in an instrument which is in turn used to probe a sample object, the transducer assembly having dual piezo-electric and opto-acoustic modes of operation, the transducer assembly comprising:
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a substrate;
a layer of opto-acoustic material deposited on a surface of the substrate, the layer of opto-acoustic material being electrically conductive;
a layer of piezo-electric material deposited on the layer of opto-acoustic material;
a layer of electrically conductive material deposited on the layer of piezo-electric material;
an acoustic lens; and
whereby when a pulsed electric potential is applied between the layer of opto-acoustic material and the layer of conductive material, a pulsed electric field is created which causes the layer of piezo-electric material to deform and thereby create pulsed sound waves which are focused by the acoustic lens and then used to probe the sample object, and whereby after the pulsed sound waves interact with the sample object and are collected by the acoustic lens, the collected pulsed sound waves impinge the layer of opto-acoustic material thereby changing at least one optical property of the layer of opto-acoustic material.
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27. A scanning acoustic microscope comprising:
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at least one light source for generating pulsed light, where the pulsed light will be used at least in a pump mode to generate pulsed sound waves to interact with a sample object to be probed using the pulsed sound waves;
at least one opto-acoustic transducer assembly comprising;
a substrate comprised of material which is transparent to the pulsed light generated by the at least one light source;
a layer of opto-acoustic material formed on a surface of the substrate, where the layer of opto-acoustic material generates pulsed sound waves when struck by the pulsed light generated by the at least one light source;
an acoustic lens to focus pulsed sound waves generated by the layer of opto-acoustic material;
a pump mode optical assembly for coupling the pulsed light generated by the at least one light source to the substrate of the opto-acoustic transducer assembly, where the pulsed light coupled to the opto-acoustic transducer assembly by the pump mode optical assembly is used to generate sound waves to interact with the sample object;
a table for mounting the sample object to be probed; and
a computer control for controlling the operation of the scanning acoustic microscope. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. A scanning acoustic microscope comprising:
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a piezo-electric transducer assembly comprising;
a substrate;
a layer of piezo-electric material formed on a surface of the substrate which generates pulsed sound waves to interact with a sample object to be probed with the pulsed sound waves when a voltage is applied to the layer of piezo-electric material;
an acoustic lens formed in the substrate to focus the pulsed sound waves;
a voltage source coupled to the layer of piezo-electric material;
at least one opto-acoustic transducer assembly, where the opto-acoustic transducer assembly is operative to collect pulsed sound waves originally generated by the piezo-electric transducer assembly after the pulsed sound waves have interacted with the sample object, the opto-acoustic transducer assembly comprising;
a substrate;
a layer of opto-acoustic material formed on a surface of the substrate, where a property of the layer of opto-acoustic material changes when pulsed sound waves collected by the opto-acoustic transducer assembly impinge the layer of opto-acoustic material;
an acoustic lens to collect pulsed sound waves generated by the piezo-electric transducer assembly after the pulsed sound waves have interacted with the sample object;
at least one light source for generating pulsed light, where the pulsed light will be used at least in a probe mode to measure the change in a property of the layer of opto-acoustic material caused by the pulsed sound waves collected by the opto-acoustic transducer assembly impinging on the layer of opto-acoustic material after the pulsed sound waves have interacted with the sample object;
a probe mode optical assembly for coupling the pulsed light generated by the at least one light source to the opto-acoustic transducer assembly;
a table for mounting the sample object to be probed; and
a computer control for controlling the operation of the scanning acoustic microscope.
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59. A method for sensing physical properties of a sample object using an instrument having at least one opto-acoustic transducer assembly, the method comprising:
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generating pulsed light waves with a light source;
directing the pulsed light waves to a layer of opto-acoustic material incorporated in the at least one opto-acoustic transducer assembly using a pump mode optical assembly;
generating pulsed sound waves through the interaction of the layer of opto-acoustic material and the pulsed light waves directed to the layer of opto-acoustic material by the pump mode optical assembly;
focusing the pulsed sound waves using at least one acoustic lens;
coupling the pulsed sound waves to a coupling medium, whereby the coupled pulsed sound waves interact with the sample object and are changed in such a way that at least one physical property of the sample object can be sensed through the change brought about by the interaction;
collecting the pulsed sound waves with the at least one acoustic lens after the pulsed sound waves have interacted with the sample object;
coupling the collected pulsed sound waves onto a detector;
sensing the properties of the sound waves using the detector; and
deriving information concerning the sample object from the properties of the sound waves sensed by the detector. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. A method for performing a physical operation on a sample object using an instrument having at least one opto-acoustic transducer assembly, the method comprising:
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generating pulsed light waves with a light source;
directing the pulsed light waves to a layer of opto-acoustic material incorporated in the at least one opto-acoustic transducer assembly using a pump mode optical assembly;
generating pulsed sound waves through the interaction of the layer of opto-acoustic material and the pulsed light waves directed to the layer of opto-acoustic material by the pump mode optical assembly;
focusing the pulsed sound waves using at least one acoustic lens;
coupling the pulsed sound waves to a coupling medium, whereby the focused pulsed sound waves perform a physical operation on the sample object. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
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Specification