Development of Ultrasound Transducer with Double-Peak-Type Frequency Characteristics for Harmonic Imaging and Subharmonic Imaging

Development of ultrasound transducers with double-peak-type frequency characteristics for harmonic imaging and subharmonic imaging is reported in this paper. The peak on the low-frequency side in the frequency characteristics is used to transmit ultrasound into tissues or microbubble ultrasound contrast agents, and another peak on the high-frequency side is used to receive the second harmonic component in the ultrasound transducer with double-peak-type frequency characteristics for harmonic imaging. On the other hand, the peak on the high-frequency side in the frequency characteristics is used to transmit ultrasound and another peak on the low-frequency side is used to receive the 1/2 subharmonic component in the ultrasound transducer with double-peak-type frequency characteristics for subharmonic imaging. The results of the transducer design based on numerical calculation are reported in this paper.