IPUT® The Integrated Photonic Ultrasound Transducer

Ultrasound systems operate by generating and receiving acoustic waves in the 20 kHz to GHz range, typically using piezoelectric transducers, a technology that has existed for over a century. Over decades, engineering advancements have reduced material costs and addressed the challenges of working with this brittle material.

Medical ultrasound imaging has been in use for more than 60 years, with a major breakthrough coming from TNO’s invention of the phased-array transducer, which is still in use in the majority of modern systems.

The accuracy and quality of ultrasound measurements are directly tied to the efficiency and sensitivity of the transducers, which depend on the piezoelectric materials used. Despite ongoing research, progress in improving these materials has been slow over the past 30 years.

The Integrated Photonic Ultrasound Transducer

It is clear that a disruptive innovation in ultrasound transducer technology is needed to achieve a substantial increase in medical ultrasound image resolution and quality.

Optical interferometers are used in many applications, e.g. for measuring low frequency displacement even up to subatomic level. In the last decades the field of “Integrated Photonics” aimed at miniaturizing such optical systems into optical chips.

About 15 years ago TNO, in collaboration with TUDelft, invented, realized and tested the first Integrated Photonic Ultrasound Transducer (IPUT). With the IPUT TNO aims for an ultrasound transducer with a 100x improvement of in sensitivity.