Ultrasonic pulse temperature determination method and apparatus

An ultrasonic apparatus for determining the temperature within a region, comprising:

• (a) transudcer means for emitting ultrasonic probe pulses and pump pulses into said region,
• (b) phase control driving means for controlling said transducer means to emit a first pulse comprising a probe pulse having a center frequency superimposed on a pump pulse having a frequency lower than the center frequency of the ultrasonic probe pulse at a first superposition location on said pump pulse, and to emit a second pulse comprising a probe pulse superimpsed on a said pump pulse at a second different location on said pump pulse, and to emit a probe pulse into said region,
• (c) means for receiving said first and second and probe pulse and for detecting the amount of phase shift of the received first and second pulses with respect to said probe pulse,
• (d) means responsive to said receiving means for determining the temperature change within said region from the detected amounts of spectral and phase shifts of said received pulses.

An ultrasonic apparatus for determining the attenuation of a region of a specimen, comprising:

• (a) transducer means for emitting ultrasonic probe pulses and pump pulses into said region,
• (b) phase control driving means for controlling said transducer means to emit a first pulse comprising a probe pulse having a center frequency superimposed on a pump pulse having a frequeny lower than the center frequency of the ultrasonic probe pulse at a first superposition location on said pump pulse, and to emit a second pulse comprising a probe pulse superimposed on a said pump pulse at a second different location on said pump pulse, and to emit a probe pulse into said region,
• (c) means for receiving said first and second and probe pulses and for providing an output indicative of the spectral content thereof,
• (d) means responsive to said receiving means and spectral content output thereof for determining the amounts of phase shift and spectral shift of the spectral content outputs associated with said first and second pulses with respsect to the spectral content output associated with said probe pulse, and for providing outputs indicative thereof,
• (e) means for determining the attenuation of said specimen region responsive to said outputs of said phase shift and spectral shift determining means.