Study of vibro-acoustography with high spatial resolution based on sector array transducers

This study investigates the vibro-acoustography of sector array transducers. Based on the vibro-acoustography and basic sector-array field theory, a modified and accurate velocity potential function is obtained. We further calculated and simulated the point spread function (PSF) of the system, designed the phantom of tissue, and simulated the phantom imaging. In the end, the influencing factors on spatial resolution with sector array transducers are analyzed on the basis of the simulation results. The results reveal that high resolution and contrast can be achieved, and this imaging method is of great value in detecting thermal lesion after high intensity ultrasound surgery and so on. The resolution will be improved by increasing central frequency, reducing geometric focal distance, and using transducers with larger aperture size.