An ultrasound microbeamformer for one or more transducer arrays includes a plurality of channels, each of which has two transmitters and a receiver which is selectively coupled to two or more transducer elements by T/R switches and dynamically switchable receive switches (RXSW). The transmitters enable different transducers to be actuated differently, such as transmitting a high frequency pulse or waveform with one transmitter and a low frequency pulse or waveform with the other transmitter. The transmitters may both be used during the same transmit-receive cycle to simultaneously transmit and receive both high and low frequency signals for the formation of a common image.

Methods, systems and storage media are described, each of which may be used to generate an image of an object using ultrasonic plane waves. For example, the generated image may be of a target object positioned on a platen surface. The image may be derived from corrected output signals obtained from a plurality of selected sensor pixels. The corrected output signals may adjust for diffraction of reflected ultrasonic plane waves from a target object positioned on the platen surface. The target object may be a finger or a tip of a stylus.

Methods for ultrasonically imaging a heterogeneous 3D-cell population without physically probing are provided. The method can comprises: pulsing ultrasound waves having a wave frequency of about 10 MHz to about 2 GHz through a lens rod, wherein the lens rod focuses the ultrasound waves onto the cell population via a concave lens-head (e.g., comprising sapphire), and wherein the cell population is positioned on the reflective surface such that the ultrasound waves are reflected back to the lens-head; receiving the reflected waves through the lens head and the lens rod at a signal receiver; scanning the lens-head across multiple points in the x,y plane; and at each point in the x,y plane, moving the lens-head in a z-direction such that a signal is received at multiple intervals in the z-direction for each point in the x,y plane.

Methods of manufacturing transducers with triangular cross-sectional shaped pillars are disclosed herein. According to one aspect of the present application, a plurality of first, second and third troughs are formed in a transducer substrate in first, second and third directions, respectively, to form an array of pillars. In one embodiment, the first direction is substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the substrate, the second direction is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the substrate, and the third direction is oblique to the longitudinal axis of the substrate. The resulting array of pillars can be configured to suppress lateral modes of a high frequency ultrasound transducer.

An acoustic transducer device includes a piezo sound transducer configured to emit, on the basis of a control signal, a first sound wave in a radiation direction. The acoustic transducer device includes an MUT sound transducer configured to provide an output signal on the basis of a second sound wave received from a receive direction.

A perfusion imaging processing method comprising collecting a plurality of digital images comprising sequential B-Mode micro-ultrasound reflectivity data, calculating decorrelation trends of autocorrelated data to determine blood flow and perfusion level, reducing the noise content in the data using the decorrelation trends, and/or forming a visual representation based on the decorrelation trends. The present system and method provides an ultrasonic imaging system and method which provides perfusion data without requiring the use of an injected contrast agent.

A catheter-based imaging apparatus comprises a catheter having a proximal end and a distal end. An optical emitter is configured to emit optical excitation signals from a distal portion of the catheter. One or more ultrasound transducers are configured for: (a) transmission of acoustic excitation signals from the distal portion of the catheter; and (b) detection of ultrasound response signals from an object of interest at or near to the distal portion of the catheter at frequencies which include a lower receive frequency at least as low as 10 MHz and a higher receive frequency at least as high as 35 MHz. The one or more ultrasound transducers are thereby configured to detect response signals comprising photoacoustic response signals from the object of interest at the lower receive frequency and high resolution imaging signals from the object of interest at the higher receive frequency.

An intravascular imaging system includes a transducer capable of generating raw data representative of the structure of a patient's vasculature. The system includes an imaging engine for receiving the raw data and generating enhanced data for presentation to a user. The imaging engine includes a coherence filter, an envelope detection module having one or more envelope detectors, and a spatial filter for processing data in various stages. Such stages of processing in the imaging engine act to reduce high frequency noise, generate low frequency data, reduce low frequency noise, and display low frequency data with an improved signal-to-noise ratio. The system can include an image generator for generating an image based on enhanced data and a display for displaying the generated image.

Methods for ultrasonically imaging a heterogeneous 3D-cell population without physically probing are provided. The method can comprises: pulsing ultrasound waves having a wave frequency of about 10 MHz to about 2 GHz through a lens rod, wherein the lens rod focuses the ultrasound waves onto the cell population via a concave lens-head (e.g., comprising sapphire), and wherein the cell population is positioned on the reflective surface such that the ultrasound waves are reflected back to the lens-head; receiving the reflected waves through the lens head and the lens rod at a signal receiver; scanning the lens-head across multiple points in the x,y plane; and at each point in the x,y plane, moving the lens-head in a z-direction such that a signal is received at multiple intervals in the z-direction for each point in the x,y plane.

An intravascular imaging system includes a transducer capable of generating raw data representative of the structure of a patient's vasculature. The system includes an imaging engine for receiving the raw data and generating enhanced data for presentation to a user. The imaging engine includes a coherence filter, an envelope detection module having one or more envelope detectors, and a spatial filter for processing data in various stages. Such stages of processing in the imaging engine act to reduce high frequency noise, generate low frequency data, reduce low frequency noise, and display low frequency data with an improved signal-to-noise ratio. The system can include an image generator for generating an image based on enhanced data and a display for displaying the generated image.