Improved plane wave ultrasound image reconstruction using a deconvolution-based Fourier domain approach

Different from conventional focused ultrasound, ultrafast ultrasound imaging employs full-field transmission such as a plane wave to achieve frame rates in the order of 10 kHz. Image reconstruction of plane-wave ultrasound is more computational efficient to be processed in Fourier domain than in time domain. A widely-applied seismic wave migration technique, the Stolt's f-k Fourier-domain method, was modified to fit the plane wave transmission-receiving process into the Exploding Reflector Model (ERM). In comparison with the ideal fitting in Lu's f-k method, the fitting in the Stolt's f-k is slightly imprecise for the higher lateral Fourier components that results in residual patterns that degrade the image quality. We propose a template that can be applied in Fourier domain directly to deconvolute the residual point spread function (residual PSF) induced by imprecise fitting.