Interior imaging using spatial frequency sampling

A new acoustic synthetic aperture geometry is demonstrated in which the image field is sampled in the spatial frequency domain. This means the sampled field is recorded in a particularly convenient form for presentation to the back propagation algorithms used to reconstruct the field at the object plane. The method has applications in interior visualization. It is difficult to image the interior of solid objects using lens based imaging systems because a different lens geometry must be used for each distinct object material. The system presented here overcomes such problems since both the angular variation of the transmission coefficient at the object-water interface and the aberrations introduced by the velocity mismatch at the object surface may be readily compensated for in the back propagation routine. Experimental results are presented illustrating the detection of four half wavelength diameter defects, spaced by three wavelengths, at a depth of eight wavelengths below the surface of an aluminum block.