Acoustic Microscopy: Materials Art and Materials Science

Abstract

<p>Significant progress has been made in acoustic microscopy and other forms of acoustic imaging over the last two decades. Originally introduced by Quate [1], this technology has been established by Weglin [2], Kino [3], Wickramasinghe [4], Bertoni [5], and Quate [6] as a powerful tool for materials characterization and development. The work described here [7] goes beyond that cited: it utilizes time-resolved acoustic signals of much greater bandwidth, and does not rely on V(z) behavior to form images. Instead only the digitized amplitudes of the spatially and temporally resolved acoustic signals are processed and displayed to form the images. Much of the progress reported here is also due to advances in computer display technology. Originally presented as posters, the included figures demonstrate various hardcopy and high-resolution raster displays incorporated in the described acoustic microscope. Keeping in mind the purpose for which each image was intended, it is instructive to compare the image quality that the different displays can produce. Six figures, containing twenty-nine separate images, make up the presentation. In their original display format, each figure was a 30 × 40 in. poster in which the individual images were displayed at the identical magnifications that were initially presented to the acoustic microscopist.</p>