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arXiv · 2607.02936

Design of optomechanical transducers for sub-micron resolution ultrasound imaging

Lisa Hackett·Chang Ge·Alex Miera·Brandon Smith·Matt Eichenfield
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Abstract

Ultrasound is a noninvasive, real-time, and therefore widely used imaging modality; yet its application in cellular and sub-cellular biology is significantly limited by rapidly increasing acoustic losses in aqueous solutions with decreasing wavelength. Here we introduce a nano-optomechanical cavity transducer platform to generate and detect ultrasound in aqueous solutions with a sub-micron acoustic wavelength. We analyze the full signal pathway through a combination of finite element method modeling and the coupled differential equations that describe the dispersive optomechanical interaction. Our findings project a signal-to-noise ratio in the thousands at ~5 GHz, limited by diffraction losses and thermal-acoustic noise. This work establishes a viable path towards optomechanical ultrasound systems capable of label-free imaging at cellular and sub-cellular length scales while also providing a broader framework for optomechanical crystal device operation in aqueous environments relevant to biochemical sensing, medical diagnostics, underwater acoustic sensing, and nanoscale imaging.

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Lisa Hackett, Chang Ge, Alex Miera, Brandon Smith, Matt Eichenfield. 2026-07-03. Design of optomechanical transducers for sub-micron resolution ultrasound imaging. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.02936

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