The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 06, 2008
Filed:
Aug. 19, 2003
Matthew O'donnell, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Jing Yong YE, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Theodore B. Norris, Dexter, MI (US);
James R. Baker, Jr., Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Lajos P. Balogh, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Susanne M. Milas, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Stanislav Y. Emelianov, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Kyle W. Hollman, Fenton, MI (US);
Matthew O'Donnell, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Jing Yong Ye, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Theodore B. Norris, Dexter, MI (US);
James R. Baker, Jr., Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Lajos P. Balogh, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Susanne M. Milas, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Stanislav Y. Emelianov, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Kyle W. Hollman, Fenton, MI (US);
The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Abstract
An acoustic monitoring method and system in laser-induced optical breakdown (LIOB) provides information which characterize material which is broken down, microbubbles in the material, and/or the microenvironment of the microbubbles. In one embodiment of the invention, femtosecond laser pulses are focused just inside the surface of a volume of aqueous solution which may include dendrimer nanocomposite (DNC) particles. A tightly focused, high frequency, single-element ultrasonic transducer is positioned such that its focus coincides axially and laterally with this laser focus. When optical breakdown occurs, a microbubble forms and a shock or pressure wave is emitted (i.e., acoustic emission). In addition to this acoustic signal, the microbubble may be actively probed with pulse-echo measurements from the same transducer. After the microbubble forms, received pulse-echo signals have an extra pulse, describing the microbubble location and providing a measure of axial microbubble size. Wavefield plots of successive recordings illustrate the generation, growth, and collapse of microbubbles due to optical breakdown. These same plots can also be used to quantify LIOB thresholds.