Real-time three dimensional acoustoelectronic imaging and characterization of objects

An apparatus for generating a real-time holographic representation of an object, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) an electrical signal generator configured to generate a first electrical signal;
• (b) an acoustic transmitter electrically connected to the electrical signal generator and configured to emit an incident acoustic signal derived from the first electrical signal for insonifying the object;
• (c) an acoustic receiver array positioned and configured to generate analog electrical signals in response to acoustic signals scattered from the insonified object;
• (d) an analog-to-digital converter electrically connected to the acoustic receiver and configured to convert the analog electrical signals to digital electronic signals;
• (e) a correlator electrically connected to the electrical signal generator and the analog-to-digital converter, and configured to convert the first electrical signal to a digital electronic signal and to generate an electronic interference pattern of the digitized first electrical signal and the digitized acoustic signals;
• and
• (f) a signal processor in electrical communication with the correlator and configured to computationally reconstruct a wavefront by electronically diffracting a reference signal with the generated electronic interference pattern.