Improved array beam steering by compensation of inter-element cross-talk

When steered one-way beams of ultrasound linear or convex array probes are experimentally measured, unexpected distortions may be observed. These beam deformations, and in particular the reduced steering angle, are not predicted by Field II simulations and can have detrimental effects, especially in Doppler applications. In this paper, such effects are analyzed, and it is hypothesized that they are mainly due to the cross-talk between neighbor elements. By introducing a simple cross-talk model in the simulations, the difference between expected and experimental one way beams is considerably reduced. The relative error between simulations and measurements was in fact reduced from more than 30% to less than 8%. Furthermore, a suitable element apodization based on the above hypothesis is proposed and shown able to reduce the undesired beam distortions.