Phase aberration correction in two dimensions with an integrated deformable actuator/transducer

Two-dimensional arrays are required to implement two-dimensional phase correction using traditional electronic correction techniques. A new transducer design, deformable in the elevation dimension, can be used to implement two-dimensional phase correction without using a full two-dimensional array. Phase correction in azimuth is achieved by altering the electronic phase delays of the elements. Phase correction in elevation is achieved by tilting the element in elevation with a piezoelectric actuator. Previously, we fabricated deformable arrays by bonding PZT array elements to actuators. The construction of deformable arrays is simplified by using the actuators for both the element deflection and the generation of ultrasound. In this paper, results are presented from a deformable array using the actuators as the imaging array elements as well as the source of deflection