Ultrasound beam steering using a fiber optic ultrasound phased array

In this Letter, a novel fiber optic ultrasound phased-array technology is proposed to solve the ultrasound beam steering problems for fiber optic ultrasound biomedical imaging. The ultrasound beam steering feasibility is explored and verified by our unique time-delay approach. A theoretical analysis is performed to predict the beam steering angle. Experiments have been performed to verify that the ultrasound beam is steered by using our approach. Four fiber optic ultrasound generators were fabricated and used to build the phased-array emitter. The successful accomplishment of this project established a foundation of the prototype of the fiber optic ultrasound imaging transducer.