Quantitative measurement of ultrasound pressure field by optical phase contrast method and acoustic holography

A fast and accurate measurement of an ultrasound field with various exposure sequences is necessary to ensure the efficacy and safety of various ultrasound applications in medicine. The most common method used to measure an ultrasound pressure field, that is, hydrophone scanning, requires a long scanning time and potentially disturbs the field. This may limit the efficiency of developing applications of ultrasound. In this study, an optical phase contrast method enabling fast and noninterfering measurements is proposed. In this method, the modulated phase of light caused by the focused ultrasound pressure field is measured. Then, a computed tomography (CT) algorithm used to quantitatively reconstruct a three-dimensional (3D) pressure field is applied. For a high-intensity focused ultrasound field, a new approach that combines the optical phase contrast method and acoustic holography was attempted. First, the optical measurement of focused ultrasound was rapidly performed over the field near a transducer. Second, the nonlinear propagation of the measured ultrasound was simulated. The result of the new approach agreed well with that of the measurement using a hydrophone and was improved from that of the phase contrast method alone with phase unwrapping. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics