Wideband acoustic transducer
AssigneeAlbatros Technologies, Inc.
InventorsPeter G. Barthe, Michael H. Slayton
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Abstract
A transducer according to various aspects of the present invention provides high fractional bandwidth with relatively low degradation of the pulse duration and sensitivity. The transducer includes a back matching layer behind the transducer material. The back matching layer is characterized by an impedance selected to transmit a selected portion of the backwards propagating acoustic energy to an absorption layer. The remaining acoustic energy is reflected in the desired direction of propagation. As a result, the transducer provides enhanced bandwidth without excessive loss of sensitivity or increase in pulse duration.
Claims31
An acoustic transducer for propagating sound waves in a desired direction, comprising:
- a transduction material;
- a backing material disposed behind said transduction material with respect to the desired direction;
- and
- a back matching layer disposed between the transduction material and the backing material, wherein said back matching layer is configured to transmit a preselected fraction of a sound wave's energy to said backing material and reflect a preselected fraction of said sound wave's energy towards said transduction material, such that said back matching layer does not completely transmit said sound wave's energy and does not completely reflect said sound wave's energy.
An acoustic transducer for transferring acoustic energy between the transducer and a target, comprising:
- a plurality of transduction elements, wherein said transduction elements are responsive to electrical energy and generate acoustic energy according to said electrical energy, and are configured to propagate said acoustic energy in at least a desired direction;
- an acoustically absorptive backing material disposed behind said transduction material in the desired direction;
- and
- a back matching layer disposed between said plurality of transduction elements and said backing material, wherein said back matching layer has an acoustic impedance, and wherein said back matching layer acoustic impedance is selected according to desired at least one of a desired sensitivity parameter, a desired bandwidth parameter, and a desired pulse duration parameter, such that said back matching layer does not completely transmit said acoustic energy and does not completely reflect said acoustic energy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.