Microfabricated water-immersible scanning mirror with a small form factor for handheld ultrasound and photoacoustic microscopy

Microscanning mirrors that can operate reliably under water are useful in both ultrasound and photoacoustic microscopic imaging, where fast scanning of focused high-frequency ultrasound beams is desired for pixel-by-pixel data acquisition. We report the development of a new microfabricated water-immersible scanning mirror with a small form factor. It consists of an optically and acoustically reflective mirror plate which is supported by two flexible polymer hinges and driven by an integrated electromagnetic microactuator. It can achieve 1-axis scanning of ±12.1 deg at a resonant frequency of 250 Hz in air and 210 Hz in water, respectively. By optimizing the design and enhancing the fabrication with high-precision optical three-dimensional printing, the overall size of the scanning mirror module is less than 7 mm×5 mm×7 mm. The small form factor, large scanning angle, and high-resonant frequency of the new water-immersible scanning mirror make it suitable for building compact handheld imaging probes for in vivo high-speed and wide-field ultrasound and photoacoustic microscopy.