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Acoustic radiation force is a physical phenomenon resulting from the interaction of an acoustic wave with an obstacle placed along its path. Generally, the force exerted on the obstacle is evaluated by integrating the acoustic radiation pressure (due to the presence of the sonic wave) over its time-varying surface.

Acoustic waves are a type of longitudinal waves that propagate by means of adiabatic compression and decompression. Longitudinal waves are waves that have the same direction of vibration as their direction of travel. Important quantities for describing acoustic waves are sound pressure, particle velocity, particle displacement and sound intensity. Acoustic waves travel with the speed of sound which depends on the medium they're passing through.

Acoustic radiation pressure is the apparent pressure difference between the average pressure at a surface moving with the displacement of the wave propagation and the pressure that would have existed in the fluid of the same mean density when at rest. Numerous authors make a distinction between the phenomena of Rayleigh radiation pressure and Langevin radiation pressure.

The magnitude of the force exerted by an acoustic plane wave at any given location can be calculated as: [1] [2]

${\displaystyle |F|={\frac {2\alpha I}{c}}}$

where

• F is the force in kg/(s2cm2),
• α is the absorption coefficient in Np/cm,
• I is the temporal average intensity of the acoustic wave at the given location in W/cm2, and
• c is the speed of sound in the medium in cm/s.

The neper is a logarithmic unit for ratios of measurements of physical field and power quantities, such as gain and loss of electronic signals. The unit's name is derived from the name of John Napier, the inventor of logarithms. As is the case for the decibel and bel, the neper is a unit defined in the international standard ISO 80000. It is not part of the International System of Units (SI), but is accepted for use alongside the SI.

The effect of frequency on acoustic radiation force is taken into account via intensity (higher pressures are more difficult to attain at higher frequencies) and absorption (higher frequencies have a higher absorption rate). As a reference water has an acoustic absorption of 0.002 dB/(MHz2cm). [3]

Acoustic radiation forces on compressible particles such as bubbles are also known as Bjerknes forces, and are generated through a different mechanism, which does not require sound absorption or reflection. [4]

A bubble is a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid. Due to the Marangoni effect, bubbles may remain intact when they reach the surface of the immersive substance.

Bjerknes forces are translational forces on bubbles in a sound wave. The phenomenon is a type of acoustic radiation force. Primary Bjerknes forces are caused by an external sound field; secondary Bjerknes forces are between pairs of bubbles in the same sound field. They were first described by Vilhelm Bjerknes in his 1906 Fields of Force.

## Related Research Articles

Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies from person to person and is approximately 20 kilohertz in healthy young adults. Ultrasound devices operate with frequencies from 20 kHz up to several gigahertz.

In physics, attenuation or, in some contexts, extinction is the gradual loss of flux intensity through a medium. For instance, dark glasses attenuate sunlight, lead attenuates X-rays, and water and air attenuate both light and sound at variable attenuation rates.

In mechanical systems, resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when the frequency at which a force is periodically applied is equal or nearly equal to one of the natural frequencies of the system on which it acts. This causes the system to oscillate with larger amplitude than when the force is applied at other frequencies.

Radiation pressure is the pressure exerted upon any surface due to the exchange of momentum between the object and the electromagnetic field. This includes the momentum of light or electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength which is absorbed, reflected, or otherwise emitted by matter on any scale.

Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) designation for the band of radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). It lies between the super high frequency band, and the far infrared band, the lower part of which is also referred to as the terahertz gap. Radio waves in this band have wavelengths from ten to one millimetre, so it is also called the millimetre band and radiation in this band is called millimetre waves, sometimes abbreviated MMW or mmW. Millimetre-length electromagnetic waves were first investigated in the 1890s by Indian scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is the application of ultrasound contrast medium to traditional medical sonography. Ultrasound contrast agents rely on the different ways in which sound waves are reflected from interfaces between substances. This may be the surface of a small air bubble or a more complex structure. Commercially available contrast media are gas-filled microbubbles that are administered intravenously to the systemic circulation. Microbubbles have a high degree of echogenicity. There is a great difference in echogenicity between the gas in the microbubbles and the soft tissue surroundings of the body. Thus, ultrasonic imaging using microbubble contrast agents enhances the ultrasound backscatter, (reflection) of the ultrasound waves, to produce a sonogram with increased contrast due to the high echogenicity difference. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound can be used to image blood perfusion in organs, measure blood flow rate in the heart and other organs, and for other applications.

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a non-invasive therapeutic technique that uses non-ionizing ultrasonic waves to heat tissue. HIFU can be used to increase the flow of blood or lymph, or to destroy tissue, such as tumors, through a number of mechanisms. The technology can be used to treat a range of disorders and as of 2015 is at various stages of development and commercialization.

ISO 80000 or IEC 80000 is an international standard promulgated jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

A Bessel beam is a field of electromagnetic, acoustic or even gravitational radiation whose amplitude is described by a Bessel function of the first kind. A true Bessel beam is non-diffractive. This means that as it propagates, it does not diffract and spread out; this is in contrast to the usual behavior of light, which spreads out after being focused down to a small spot. Bessel beams are also self-healing, meaning that the beam can be partially obstructed at one point, but will re-form at a point further down the beam axis.

Underwater acoustics is the study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of the mechanical waves that constitute sound with the water, its contents and its boundaries. The water may be in the ocean, a lake, a river or a tank. Typical frequencies associated with underwater acoustics are between 10 Hz and 1 MHz. The propagation of sound in the ocean at frequencies lower than 10 Hz is usually not possible without penetrating deep into the seabed, whereas frequencies above 1 MHz are rarely used because they are absorbed very quickly. Underwater acoustics is sometimes known as hydroacoustics.

Therapeutic ultrasound refers generally to any type of ultrasonic procedure that uses ultrasound for therapeutic benefit. This includes HIFU, lithotripsy, targeted ultrasound drug delivery, trans-dermal ultrasound drug delivery, ultrasound hemostasis, cancer therapy, and ultrasound assisted thrombolysis It may use focused ultrasound (FUS) or unfocused ultrasound.

Thermoacoustic imaging was originally proposed by Theodore Bowen in 1981 as a strategy for studying the absorption properties of human tissue using virtually any kind of electromagnetic radiation. But Alexander Graham Bell first reported the physical principle upon which thermoacoustic imaging is based a century earlier. He observed that audible sound could be created by illuminating an intermittent beam of sunlight onto a rubber sheet. Shortly after Bowen's work was published, other researchers proposed methodology for thermoacoustic imaging using microwaves. In 1994 researchers used an infrared laser to produce the first thermoacoustic images of near-infrared optical absorption in a tissue-mimicking phantom, albeit in two dimensions (2D). In 1995 other researchers formulated a general reconstruction algorithm by which 2D thermoacoustic images could be computed from their "projections," i.e. thermoacoustic computed tomography (TCT). By 1998 researchers at Indiana University Medical Center extended TCT to 3D and employed pulsed microwaves to produce the first fully three-dimensional (3D) thermoacoustic images of biologic tissue [an excised lamb kidney ]. The following year they created the first fully 3D thermoacoustic images of cancer in the human breast, again using pulsed microwaves. Since that time, thermoacoustic imaging has gained widespread popularity in research institutions worldwide. As of 2008, three companies were developing commercial thermoacoustic imaging systems – Seno Medical, Endra, Inc. and OptoSonics, Inc.

The photoacoustic Doppler effect, as its name implies, is one specific kind of Doppler effect, which occurs when an intensely modulated light wave induces a photoacoustic wave on moving particles with a specific frequency. The observed frequency shift is a good indicator of the velocity of the illuminated moving particles. A potential biomedical application is measuring blood flow.

Schlieren imaging is a method to visualize density variations in transparent media.

A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is a relatively new concept in the field of ultrasonic transducers. Most of the commercial ultrasonic transducers today are based on piezoelectricity. CMUTs are the transducers where the energy transduction is due to change in capacitance. CMUTs are constructed on silicon using micromachining techniques. A cavity is formed in a silicon substrate, and a thin layer suspended on the top of the cavity serves as a membrane on which a metallized layer acts an electrode, together with the silicon substrate which serves as a bottom electrode.

Whispering-gallery waves, or whispering-gallery modes, are a type of wave that can travel around a concave surface. Originally discovered for sound waves in the whispering gallery of St Paul’s Cathedral, they can exist for light and for other waves, with important applications in nondestructive testing, lasing, cooling and sensing, as well as in astronomy.

Acoustic attenuation is a measure of the energy loss of sound propagation in media. Most media have viscosity, and are therefore not ideal media. When sound propagates in such media, there is always thermal consumption of energy caused by viscosity. For inhomogeneous media, besides media viscosity, acoustic scattering is another main reason for removal of acoustic energy. Acoustic attenuation in a lossy medium plays an important role in many scientific researches and engineering fields, such as medical ultrasonography, vibration and noise reduction.

Diffuse field acoustic testing is the testing of the mechanical resistance of a spacecraft to the acoustic pressures during launch.

## References

1. "A finite-element method model of soft tissue response to impulsive acoustic radiation force". IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 52 (10): 1699–712. October 2005. PMC  . PMID   16382621.
2. "Estimates of echo correlation and measurement bias in acoustic radiation force impulse imaging". IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 50 (6): 631–41. June 2003. PMID   12839175.
3. Diagnostic ultrasound imaging : inside out. ISBN   9780126801453.
4. Leighton, T.G., Walton, A.J. and Pickworth, M.J.W., 1990. Primary bjerknes forces. European Journal of Physics, 11(1), p.47.