Realization of an ultrathin acoustic lens for subwavelength focusing in the megasonic range

In this study, we report the first experimental realization of an ultrathin (0.14 lambda, lambda = 1.482 mm means wavelength at 1 MHz in the water medium) subwavelength focusing acoustic lens that can surpass the Rayleigh diffraction limit (0.61 lambda/NA, NA means numerical aperture). It is termed a Super- Oscillatory Acoustic Lens (SOAL), and it operates in the megasonic range. The SOAL represents an interesting feature allowing the achievement of subwavelength focusing without the need to operate in close proximity to the object to be imaged. The optimal layout of the SOAL is obtained by utilizing a systematic design approach, referred to here as topology optimization. To this end, the optimization formulation is newly defined. The optimized SOAL is fabricated using a photo-etching process and its subwavelength focusing performance is verified experimentally via an acoustic intensity measurement system. From these measurements, we found that the proposed optimized SOAL can achieve superior focusing features with a Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) of similar to 0.40./NA lambda similar or equal to 0.84 mm (for our SOAL, NA = 0.707) with the transmission efficiency of 26.5%.