High-speed photography of encapsulated microbubbles

Spiros Kotopoulis, Michiel Postema. High-speed photography of encapsulated microbubbles. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, American Chemical Society, 2013, 245TH ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, April 7–11, 245, pp.198-COLL.

The ultrasound-induced formation of bubble clusters may be of interest as a therapeutic means. If the clusters behave as one entity, i.e., one mega-bubble, its ultrasonic manipulation towards a boundary is straightforward and quick. If the clusters can be forced to accumulate to a microfoam, entire vessels might be blocked on purpose using an ultrasound contrast agent and a sound source. We analyse how ultrasound contrast agent clusters are formed in a capillary and what happens to the clusters if sonication is continued, using continuous driving frequencies in the range 1--10 MHz. Furthermore, we show high-speed camera footage of microbubble clustering phenomena.