Subharmonic and ultraharmonic emissions based on the nonlinear oscillation of encapsulated microbubbles in ultrasound contrast agents

Subharmonics or ultraharmonics provides better contrast-to-tissue ratio (CTR) than the fundamental or the second harmonics, having prospective application in medical diagnosis. In this paper, subharmonic and ultraharmonic emissions are theoretically studied through nonlinear oscillation of encapsulated bubbles. The optimized frequencies for emissions of the subharmonics and ultraharmonics are discussed. In addition, sound pressure dependences of the subharmonics and ultraharmonics are studied in theory as well as in measurement. Results reveal that the developments of both subharmonics and ultraharmonics have the same trend, i.e. occurrence, growth and saturation, but the generation of ultraharmonic is a little earlier than that of subharmonic.