HIGH INTENSITY FOCUSED ULTRASOUND TRANSDUCER WITH ACOUSTIC LENS

摘要

A high intensity focused ultrasound transducer (10) includes an ultrasonic emitter (12) having a surface (16) that emits ultrasonic energy along a beam path, at least one low attenuation polymeric ultrasonic lens (14) acoustically coupled to surface (16) in the beam path of the ultrasonic energy, such that the lens can direct ultrasonic energy in at least one direction, and at least one stress mitigation feature, such as a kerf (30), a heat sink, or an acoustic matching layer (28), to mitigate thermal expansion mismatch stresses within the transducer. For manufacturing simplicity, surface (16) is typically either flat or monotonically curvilinear. The lens may take a variety of shapes, including Fresnel features, and may focus, collimate, or defocus the ultrasonic energy. Any orientation and positioning of the at least one ultrasonic lens relative to the ultrasonic emitter is contemplated. Manufacture is further simplified by molding, casting, or thermoforming the lens.