Hydrophone arrays for instantaneous measurement of high-pressure acoustic fields

Abstract

Electrohydraulic lithotripter acoustic fields are measured with single‐element hydrophones even though the acoustic fields are not highly repeatable. The ability to obtain an instantaneous “snapshot” of the sound field would have broad implications for advancing the understanding of how lithotripters fragment stones and damage kidney tissue. To better characterize the acoustic field of lithotripters, linear hydrophone arrays were fabricated by bonding a 9 μm piezopolymer film to a copper‐clad polyimide which had an array pattern etched on the copper layer. After bonding, the devices were backed with an epoxy plug in order to provide structural support. The array elements were each 0.5 by 0.5 mm, spaced 1.25 mm center to center, and there were 20 elements. The relative sensitivity of each hydrophone element was measured at 5.25 MHz for an acoustic pressure of 4.5 kPa and the elements were found to vary by ≈ 6%. The arrays were then placed in the focus of a piezoelectric lithotripter and were found to maintain their sensitivity for roughly 500 shock waves before gradually losing sensitivity.