Multiphysics simulation to mitigate critical design challenges of a photoacoustic system

With the advent of light-emitting diode (LED) increasingly used for Photoacoustic applications, it is imperative to mitigate the challenge of finding the most appropriate ultrasound transducer for a certain pulse excitation of the LED. The study aims to mitigate the challenge of finding the optimum operating frequency of the ultrasound required to detect the Photoacoustic signal while exciting the LED with a particular pulse input. The finite element method using COMSOL Multiphysics is implemented to perform a numerical model that fully couples electromagnetics, thermal, structural, mechanical, and acoustic physics. It is observed that as the pulse width of the LED excitation increases, the peak operating frequency of the ultrasound transducer also should increase. The operating frequency of the ultrasound transducer required for a particular pulse width of the excitation can be assessed using a finite element method approach.