940774 Sandhu This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop higher sensitivity of liquid-crystal based ultrasound (acoustic) detectors. Low sensitivity has been a factor limiting industrial applications of acousto-optical displays as well as limiting medical applications. Phase I new liquid crystal systems were studied and found to improve detection sensitivity by one order of magnitude and more. Phase II development is expected to add another one or two orders-of-magnitude improvement and to build a prototype system for further investigations of medical and industrial applications, e.g., breast imaging for cancer detection and nondestructive inspection of industrial materials.
