Invisible Knife Made Of High-Pressure Sound Waves Cuts Finest Points Ever!

Engineering researchers from University of Michigan have developed a new ultrasound technology where they use a carbon nanotube coated lens to convert light energy to high pressure sound waves that when focused can cut finer points than ever before. We call it the 'Invisible Knife' and clearly see its applications in medical research fields like noninvasive surgery. You've heard of use of ultrasound in medical practices like blasting the kidney stones or to prostate tumors or to get the glimpses of a baby in the womb.  But, there is a huge drawback in current technology - the focal spot is too big - a few centimeters! Thus, making high-precision and delicate targeting a tough job.

[caption id="attachment_44799" align="aligncenter" width="298"]#-Link-Snipped-# With a new technique that uses tightly-focused sound waves for micro-surgery, University of Michigan engineering researchers drilled a 150-micrometer hole in a confetti-sized artificial kidney stone. Image credit: Hyoung Won Baac[/caption]
This new engineering research team was able to concentrate high-amplitude sound waves to a speck just 75 by 400 micrometers (one-thousandth of a millimeter). For building such a superfine beam, their optoacoustic approach that converts the light to sound, focuses it to a tiny spot and amplifies the sound waves, used a lens coated with layer of carbon nanotubes and a layer of a rubbery material called polydimethylsiloxane.
This super-fine sound beam is so tightly focused that medical researchers will be able to disrupt individual cells with it. We think this is a great engineering-medical innovation that can go a long way. "This is just the beginning," says  Jay Guo, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, mechanical engineering, and macromolecular science and engineering, "This work opens a way to probe cells or tissues in much smaller scale."
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