High frame rate 2D and 3D imaging with a curved or cylindrical array

Recently, a high frame rate (HFR) imaging method based on limited diffraction beam (LDB) theory has been developed. In this method, a two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) image is constructed with a single plane wave transmission and thus a theoretical frame rate of 3750 frames/second can be obtained for biological soft tissues at a depth of about 200 mm. Because a plane wave is used to transmit, images can only be obtained in a small area if an object is illuminated with a transducer of a small footprint. In this paper, we extend the HFR method by using a cylindrical wave to illuminate an object. Mathematical formulas were derived and computer simulations were performed to verify the method. The method allows to increase the illumination area by using a transducer of a small footprint, which is important for applications such as cardiac imaging where acoustic window sizes are limited.