No abstract

Compound scanning using electronic steering of an array of transducers makes it possible to widen the area being explored and to increase the amount of information contained in an ultrasonic image. The principle and the operating characteristics of the method are described and its effectiveness demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Possible improvements and applications are discussed.

No abstract

A noncontact ultrasonic method for measuring the surface normal vibration of objects was studied. The instrument consists of a pair of 420 kHz ultrasonic air transducers. One is used to emit ultrasounds toward the moving surface, and the other receives the ultrasound reflected from the object under test. Two effects induce a phase modulation on the received signal. The first effect results from the variation of the round trip time interval tau required for the wavefront to go from the emitter to the moving surface and back to the receiver. This is the Doppler effect directly proportional to the surface displacement. The second effect results from the nonlinear parametric interactions of the ultrasonic beams (forward and backward) with the low frequency sound field emitted in the air by the vibrating surface. This latter phenomenon, which is a volume effect, is proportional to the velocity of the vibrating surface and increases with the distance between the transducers and the surface under test. The relative contribution of the Doppler and parametric effects are evaluated, and both have to be taken into account for ultrasonic interferometry in air.

No abstract