A Study of Radiation Force Effects in Plane-Wave Transmission Mode

Microbubble displacement due to the primary radiation force has been observed in the focal region of single-element and array probes. This effect has been harnessed to increase the contact between microbubbles and targeted endothelium for drug delivery and ultrasound molecular imaging. In this study, microbubble displacements associated with plane-wave (PW) transmission (TX) are investigated and compared to those obtained in focused-wave (FW) TX over a range of pulse repetition frequencies (PRF), burst lengths and peak negative pressures (PNP). In PW mode, displacements on the order of $10\mu\mathbf{m}/\text{pulse}$ were measured when transmitting 4 MHz pulses with PNP=200 kPa and burst $10\mu \mathbf{s}$ long.