Shock wave shape optimisation in ESWL and PSWL

Underwater pressure pulses of different shock-wave generators used for extracorporal kidney stone destruction (shock wave lithotripsy) are investigated in the time and frequency domain. Traumatic low-frequency components can be eliminated by high-pass filtering with dispersive wave guides. If piezoelectric film stripes are arranged in a water bath one after the other with constant distances between them, shock wave pulses with arbitrary shape can be generated and amplified by a factor depending on the number of stripes. The amplified shock wave pulse will be focused by an acoustic lens.<>