Non-intrusive MEMS microphone sensing of acoustic field state in resonant acoustic levitators

Reliable operation of resonant acoustic levitators requires knowledge of the acoustic field state because the optimum transducer-reflector distance and resonant operating condition shift with wavelength, temperature, object insertion, and mechanical alignment.

Existing adjustment methods are limited, especially for compact closed-loop operation and architectures without a passive reflector.

Here, we investigate transducer-mounted microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microphones as off-axis external sensors that acquire relative acoustic signals without placing sensors inside the levitation cavity.

Using a linear microphone configuration, we performed transducer-reflector distance sweeps over resonance modes n = 5-8 and compared microphone amplitude with acoustic radiation force measured by a precision balance and with peak-to-peak transducer current.

The channel-mean microphone-voltage maxima occurred within two sampled distance increments, or at most 30 micrometers, of the force maxima.

At the microphone-derived peak positions, at least 98.3% of the corresponding maximum force was retained.

Microphone amplitude localized the force maximum more sharply than peak-to-peak transducer current.

In one frequency-shift experiment, microphone phase provided a proof of principle for correction-direction estimation, while envelope modulation captured channel-resolved field changes during object oscillation.

Ring measurements showed channel-dependent responses as transducer-reflector tilt was varied, but did not provide a calibrated or unique tilt estimate.

These results show the potential of external MEMS microphones as relative acoustic observables for resonance-related field-state assessment and provide a basis for compact transducer-side feedback.

The principle may also be transferable to transducer-transducer and array-based architectures.