Ultrasound images for cells, antibubbles and medical research

Light can be used to project images. An invention by our research group makes it possible to now also project “pressure images”. A hologram therein shapes an ultrasound wave and its spatial intensity distribution. Since a wave also transmits forces, the hologram allows cells to be arranged in the form of sonic images, gently and "in one shot". The sound patterns can also be used for spatially defined drug release at low intensities, which we have demonstrated with antibubbles. High-precision spatial ultrasound fields thus open up new perspectives in biomedical research.