Ultrasonic Imaging Based on Pulsed Airy Beams

Area of Science:

• Acoustics
• Medical Imaging
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• High impedance obstacles in tissues cause artifacts in ultrasonic imaging, hindering target area examination.
• Acoustical Airy beams exhibit self-bending and self-healing properties, offering potential for medical applications.
• Limited diffraction of Airy beams from finite sources makes them suitable for focused ultrasonic tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the application of pulsed Airy (pAiry) beams for megahertz frequency ultrasonic imaging.
• To demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of pAiry beam-based ultrasonic imaging through simulations and experiments.
• To assess the performance of pAiry beams in overcoming artifacts caused by obstacles in ultrasonic imaging.

Main Methods:

• Simulated the generation of pAiry beams using a linear array transducer.
• Conducted experiments using pAiry beams for ultrasonic imaging in the presence of obstacles.
• Compared image quality of pAiry-based imaging with classical iso-depth imaging.

Main Results:

• Simulations confirmed that pAiry beams inherit self-bending and self-healing characteristics.
• Experimental results showed superior image quality with pAiry beams compared to classical methods when obstacles were present.
• pAiry beams effectively reduced artifacts behind high impedance obstacles.

Conclusions:

• Ultrasonic imaging based on pAiry beams is feasible and offers significant benefits.
• pAiry beams provide a viable solution for improving ultrasonic imaging in the presence of tissue obstacles.
• This research lays the foundation for developing advanced imaging techniques using nondiffracting acoustic beams.