arXiv subjects

Zhongtao Hu

Publications and source records attributed to Zhongtao Hu.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Wavefront Shaping of Ultrasound Vortex through the Human Skull Enabled by Binary Acoustic Metasurfaces

Ultrasound vortices have rapidly expanded their applications to areas like particle trapping, contactless manipulation, acoustic communications. In ultrasonic imaging and therapy involving bone tissues, these vortex beams offer intriguing possibilities but transmitting them through bone (especially the skull) poses challenges. Traditional acoustic lenses were engineered to rectify skull-induced beam aberration, and their capacity was limited to generating only static ultrasound fields within the brain. To overcome this constraint, our study presents a novel method for transcranially steering focused ultrasound vortex using 3D printed binary acoustic metasurfaces (BAMs) with a thickness of 0.8 λ. We tackled the challenge of skull-induced phase aberration by computing the phase distribution via a time reversal technique, which concurrently enabled the generation of a steerable focused vortex inside an ex vivo human skull by adjusting the operating frequency. Both numerical and simulations experiments were conducted to validate the capabilities of BAMs. Furthermore, we explored the generation of higher-order topological charge acoustic vortices within the brain utilizing the BAM. This development paves the way for designing cost-effective particle-trapping systems, facilitating clot manipulation, and applying acoustic-radiation forces and torques within or across bone structures, thus presenting a new frontier for potential biomedical applications.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2025

Rapid MRI-Based Synthetic CT Simulations for Precise tFUS Targeting

Accurate targeting is critical for the effectiveness of transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) neuromodulation. While CT provides accurate skull acoustic properties, its ionizing radiation and poor soft tissue contrast limit clinical applicability. In contrast, MRI offers superior neuroanatomical visualization without radiation exposure but lacks skull property mapping. This study proposes a novel, fully CT free simulation framework that integrates MRI-derived synthetic CT (sCT) with efficient modeling techniques for rapid and precise tFUS targeting. We trained a deep-learning model to generate sCT from T1-weighted MRI and integrated it with both full-wave (k-Wave) and accelerated simulation methods, hybrid angular spectrum (kWASM) and Rayleigh-Sommerfeld ASM (RSASM). Across five skull models, both full-wave and hybrid pipelines using sCT demonstrated sub-millimeter targeting deviation, focal shape consistency (FWHM ~3.3-3.8 mm), and <0.2 normalized pressure error compared to CT-based gold standard. Notably, the kW-ASM and RS-ASM pipelines reduced simulation time from ~3320 s to 187 s and 34 s respectively, achieving ~94% and ~90% time savings. These results confirm that MRI-derived sCT combined with innovative rapid simulation techniques enables fast, accurate, and radiation-free tFUS planning, supporting its feasibility for scalable clinical applications.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2023

On the Acoustoelasticity of Backward Lamb Wave in Prestressed Plate

Backward Lamb waves, which exhibit a group velocity that propagates in the opposite direction to their phase velocity, have recently garnered considerable attention for their potential applications in nondestructive testing. Herein we present a theoretical study on backward Lamb waves in the elastic plate subject to prestresses. We demonstrate that the group velocity of the first antisymmetric backward Lamb wave, A3b, decreases with tensile stress, whereas that of the first symmetric backward Lamb wave, S2b, increases. Notably, the sensitivity of A3b to prestress is approximately ten times greater than that of S2b, with a ~5% change in group velocity observed under a uniaxial stress of 100 MPa in steel. This heightened sensitivity facilitates an inverse method for determining prestress levels in elastic plates by examining variations in the A3b group velocity. We also investigate the acoustoelastic properties of zero-group-velocity (ZGV) points, which demarcate the dispersion curves of forward and backward Lamb waves. Our findings indicate that the ratio of resonance frequencies corresponding to A3b and S2b monotonically decreases as uniaxial stress increases, providing an alternative method for prestress assessment. Lastly, we propose an experimental setup for measuring backward Lamb waves and visualize the generation of A3b using dynamic photoelastic techniques. Our research elucidates the acoustoelastic characteristics of backward Lamb waves and highlights their promising utility for stress measurement in elastic plates.

physics.app-ph↗