Let’s just dive right into this, shall we. We begin with:
To make a uaser, Weaver, Illinois research associate Oleg Lobkis and UMR physics professor Alexey Yamilov begin by mounting a number of piezoelectric auto-oscillators to a block of aluminum, which serves as an elastic, acoustic body. When an external acoustic source is applied to the body, the oscillators synchronize to its tone. Like fireflies trapped in a bottle, the oscillators synchronize to the frequency of the source.
Yeah. Ummm… I won’t pretend to be Bill Nye, here, but what they’ve done is create a highly focused beam of sound that can be used to measure surfaces and for future medical diagnostics. Whereas most sonograms use unfocused beams of sound, this device would allow doctors to measure with pinpoint accuracy the “guts,” to use the technical term, of a patient. It’s pronounced WAY-zer, by the way, so you can be all like “No WAY-zer, dude!” and your friend would say “WAY-zer!”
Researchers build an ultrasound version of the laser [University of Illinois via MedGadget]
