THREE DIMENSIONAL ULTRASONIC TOMOGRAPHIC MICROSCOPY

IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE PRESENT A PROGRAM OF RESEARCH ON AN ORIGINAL AND INNOVATIVE CONCEPT FOR ULTRASONIC TOMOGRAPHIC MICROSCOPY WHICH WOULD BE CAPABLE OF PROVIDING UNAMBIGUOUS MICROSCOPIC IMAGES FOR PROCESS CONTROL, NONDESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION, AND BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH. THE METHOD WOULD INVOLVE USING SOME OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES EXISTING TODAY IN ACOUSTIC MICROSCOPY AND DEVELOPING A NOVEL TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH FOR MAKING TOMOGRAPHIC MICROGRAPHS INSTEAD OF THE ORTHOSCOPIC MICROGRAPHS THAT ALL EXISTING TECHNIQUES PRODUCE. THIS APPROACH TO TOMOGRAPHY, IF SUCCESSFUL, WOULD RESULT IN SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASING THE VALUE OF ACOUSTIC MICROSCOPY, PARTICULARLY IN SUBSURFACE IMAGING OF COMPLICATED SOLID-STATE AND BIOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WOULD INVOLVE A PRINCIPAL EFFORT AT SONOSCAN, INC. WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA (UCSB) SERVING AS A SUBCONTRACTOR. THE INVESTIGATION WOULD PROVE FEASIBILITY MODIFYING EXISTING EQUIPMENT FOR TOMOGRAPHIC DATA ACQUISITION, DEVELOPING SUITABLE TEST SAMPLES ANALYZING THE SUITABILITY OF EXPERIMENTALLY-OBTAINED DATA, RECONSTRUCTING TOMOGRAMS AND EXAMINING THE RESULT OF IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION TO FORMULATE FURTHER PROGRAMS OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ORDER TO PRODUCE A PRACTICAL TOMOGRAPHIC MICROSCOPE OF GREAT VALUE.