Application of Acoustic Bessel Beams for Handling of Hollow Porous Spheres

Acoustic manipulation of porous spherical shells, widely used as drug delivery carriers and magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, is investigated analytically. The technique used for this purpose is based on the application of high-order Bessel beams as a single-beam acoustic manipulation device, by which particles lying on the axis of the beam can be pulled toward the beam source. The exerted acoustic radiation force is calculated using the standard partial-wave series method, and the wave propagation within the porous media is modeled using Biot's theory of poro-elasticity. Numerical simulations are performed for porous aluminum and silica shells of different thickness and porosity. Results indicate that manipulation of low-porosity shells is possible using Bessel beams with large conical angles, over a number of broadband frequency ranges, whereas manipulation of highly porous shells can occur over both narrowband and broadband frequency domains.