Patent ID: 7686500

Claim:
An acoustic system, comprising: a vessel for holding one or more samples, the vessel having a nucleation feature; an acoustic source spaced from and exterior to the vessel, the acoustic source for providing focused acoustic energy in a frequency range of between about 100 kHz and about 100 MHz and having a focal zone having a width of less than about 2 centimeters; a medium container for holding a liquid medium for transmitting acoustic energy from the acoustic source to the vessel; a vessel holder for holding the vessel, the vessel holder adapted to position the vessel in the medium container at a location at least partially in the focal zone of the acoustic source; and a positioning system for controlling a relative position between the acoustic source and the vessel in the vessel holder, to selectively expose the vessel to the focused acoustic energy, wherein exposure of the vessel having the nucleation feature to the focused acoustic energy imparts motion to one or more samples in the vessel.