Micromachined structures for nonlinear ultrasonic transduction

Recent studies have shown that ultrasonic propagation along chain-like structures can give very interesting properties. It is now known that non-linear propagation can take place along these chains, and this leads to some fascinating possibilities. This is because propagation is in the form of solitary waves. These have much different properties to standard propagation along a wire for example, because the propagation is non-liner, i.e. it is a function of driving amplitude. Such materials were studied at ultrasonic frequencies of 1 MHz and above, and could provide a new approach to transducer design.