Acoustic radiation force and acoustical tweezers used in biomedical research

Abstract

General analytical expressions for the acoustic radiation forces generated by focused and unfocused ultrasonic beams on a small compressible sphere [J. Wu and G. Du, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, 997 (1990)] and a rigid cylinder [Wu etal., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, 581 (1990)] are derived. A new tool for biomedical research, acoustic tweezers, is developed [J. Wu, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 89, 2140 (1991)]. Several applications of acoustic radiation force at megahertz frequencies such as determination of the tensile strength of a single actin protein filament are discussed. [Work supported by NIH.]