Acoustic Microscopy

AUG 01, 1985

Electroacoustical transducers and acoustic lenses work at megahertz frequencies as “miniature sonar systems,” forming high‐resolution images that show properties not seen in optical micrographs.

DOI: 10.1063/1.880984

Calvin F. Quate

The acoustic microscope is a new entry in the field of microscopic imaging. It comes after a delay of many years, but now appears to be well established. At last year’s conference of the Royal Microscopical Society in London, for example, the booth traditionally reserved for new instruments was used to introduce commercial versions of acoustic instruments. Visitors to the exhibit learned that one can focus acoustic waves in water to a diffractionlimited waist and use them as a probe for microscopic examination. They found in examining their own samples that they could observe new detail with a resolution comparable to that achieved by optical microscopes. (See figures 1 and 2.)

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More about the authors

Calvin F. Quate, Stanford University.