Probes and Acoustic ‘Beams’

Consider the probe to be a torch with a visible beam. Different probes create different acoustic ‘beams’, or fields of view, the shape of which varies.

A high frequency linear array probe produces a flat beam with parallel sides. As most are of a higher frequency, the depth is limited.

A low frequency curvilinear probe produces a widening beam, and with lower frequencies can give considerable depth.

A phased array probe produces ultrasound beams with fractional time differences across the array. A sweeping beam results that gives a wide diverging field of view, but with a small footprint. This can be very useful when imaging between ribs, e.g. in cardiac applications.