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Native tissue imaging at superharmonic frequencies

The second harmonic imaging mode has been adapted to image tissue and shown considerable improvements in image quality in several applications compared to the fundamental mode. The improvements were attributed to the effects of wave distortion due to nonlinear propagation in tissue. However, imaging tissue at the second harmonic frequency only has various drawbacks. Because the energy in the second harmonic frequency band is much lower than that in the fundamental frequency band, there must be excellent sensitivity and dynamic range in the receiving system to achieve an acceptable amount of signal-to-noise ratio. To increase the sensitivity, the spectral overlap between the fundamental and the second harmonic has to be diminished, which in return deteriorates the imaging resolution. Consequently, a trade-off is mandatory between resolution and sensitivity. Using simulations and measurements, we show that, at appropriate scanning acoustic settings, higher harmonics are generated in tissue. The higher harmonics represent additional, relevant information for tissue imaging and characterization. An elegant way to take advantage of the higher harmonics and to bring all the information together is to combine and incorporate all the multiple higher harmonics into a single component that we call the superharmonic component. Using a newly developed array transducer having a wide frequency band, B-mode images of a phantom were made in the superharmonic mode transmitting at 1.2 MHz. These images have exceptionally improved clarity and yield a dramatically cleaner and sharper contrast between the different structures being imaged. In addition to increased signal-to-noise ratio, superharmonic imaging shows better contrast and axial resolution as well as acceptable penetration depth.