Diffraction Effects in the Ultrasonic Field of a Piston Source and Their

Importance in the Accurate Measurement of Attenuation

Hajime Seki, Andrew Granato and Rohn Truell

Citation: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 28, 230 (1956); doi: 10.1121/1.1908249
View online: https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1908249
View Table of Contents: https://asa.scitation.org/toc/jas/28/2
Published by the Acoustical Society of America

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THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA VOLUME 28. NUMBER 2 MARCH, 1956

Diffraction Effects in the Ultrasonic Field of a Piston Source and Their Importance
in the Accurate Measurement of Attenuation*
HAJIME SEKI, ANDREWGRANATO,AND ROaN TRUELI,
Metals ResearchLaboratory,Brown University,Pro•dence, RhodeIsland
(ReceivedOctober 11, 1955)

A study is madeof the ultrasonicfield producedby a circularquartz crystaltransducerand the integrated

response of a quartz crystalreceiverwith the samedimensions asthe transducer.The transducerandreceiver
are taken to be coaxial,and it is assumedthat the transducerbehavesas a piston sourcewhile the integrated
responseis proportionalto the averagepressureover the receiverarea. Computationsare madefor casesof
interest in the megacyclefrequencyrange (ka-50 to 1000; a-piston radius; >,=wavelength; k=2•r/>,).
The resultscontainfeaturesof usein identifying and correctingfor diffractionerrors.Thesefeatureswhich
apparently have been missedin previousinvestigationsare comparedwith available experimentaldata.
Finally correctionformulas to account for diffraction effectsin the accurate measurementof attenuation
are discussed.It is shownthat the order of magnitudeof the diffractionattenuation is given by one decibel
per a•/X.

INTRODUCTION
On the other hand previousanalytical investigations
by Huntington, Emslie, and Hughes2 and by Williams3
HIS workwasdone in connectionwiththemeas-did not showany maximumsuchasthat observed.Since
urement of ultrasonic attenuation in solids at the
Metals ResearchLaboratory of Brown University. A it was possiblethat previouscalculationshad missed
descriptionof the generalmethod has been given by this maximum and sincethe presenceof sucha maxi-
Roderick and Truell.• Recently measurementsof very mum wasdefinite,a recalculationwasmadewith special
low attenuating solidssuch as single crystals of ger- attentionto the regionneara•/X.
It is shown here that while the earlier results were
manium, silicon,and quartz have given rise to various
errors which, in previouswork, were considerednegli- approximatelyright thereare newmaximanot hitherto
gible.A programto investigatetheseproblemshasbeen mentioned.These maxima help to identify diffraction
underwayfor sometime. The work to be describedhere losseseven though other lossesmay be present, and
is the result of an analytic and experimentalexamina- they providemeansfor a specificprocedurein making
tion of oneof theseproblems,namelythat of diffraction. corrections.In addition to the computation of the
Improvementin techniqueand instrumentationcannot integrated pressureresponse,the wave front patterns
eliminate the diffraction loss. and the maximumpressureprofilesas a functionof the
radial distance at various axial distances were calcu-
The problem treated here arosewhen it was observed
that for materials with low attenuation the usual ex- lated. From the wave-frontpattern it is easyto seethat
ponentialechodecaywasabsent.The decayof the pulse the actual wave deviatesvery little from a plane wave.
with distance traveled in the specimenswas nearly THE PROBLEM
exponential,but a maximum appearedat a distance
from the sourceof about a2/X. The method of observa- The physical arrangementis shown in Fig. l(b).
tion of the decayof the pulseusedhere is the so calledA high-frequency shortdurationelectricpulseis applied
"pulse echo method," wherein the amplitude of the to the quartz crystalwhichcausesthe crystalto vibrate
pulse is detected after each round trip through the by meansof the piezoelectric mechanism.This vibration
specimen.The irregularitiesobservedare illustrated in is propagatedinto the medium, and reflectedup and
Fig. 1(a). The presenceof this disturbancein the echo downbetweenthe top and bottom surfaces.Every time
pattern raiseda questionof just howthe properattenua- the pulse strikes the quartz a very small part of its
tion could be measured. The method of measurement energyis convertedback to electricalenergywhich is
usually employed is that of fitting a calibrated ex- amplifiedand observedon the oscilloscope.
ponentialcurveto the echopattern, both of whichare The useof a quartz crystalas a passivelinear electro-
presentedtogether on an oscilloscope. acoustictransduceris well known. A thorough treat-
Because the nonexponentialpattern observedwas ment of the electroacousticreciprocity theorem is
reproducibleand becausethe location of the maximum given by Foldy and Primakoff.4 Though the modesof
always appearednear the positiona2/X when the fre- vibration of quartz crystalplatesare knownto be com-
quency and crystal diameter were varied it seemed plex, as shown by Dye, 5 it is assumedhere that the
reasonableto believe that this effect was closelycon-
• Huntington, Emslie, and Hughes, J. Franklin Inst. 245, 1
nected with the beam diffractionpattern.
aA. O. Williams,Jr., J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 23, 1 (1951).
* This work was supportedby Watertown Arsenalunder U.S. • L. L. Foldy and H. Primakoff, J. Acoust. Soc.Am. 17, 109
Army Ordnance Contract DA-19-020-ORD-1579. (1945); 19, 50 (1947).
• R. L. Roderick and R. Truell, J. Appl. Phys. 23, 267-279 * W. D. Dye, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London)A, 138, No. A 834
(1952). (1932).
230
 ULTRASONIC FIELD OF A PISTON SOURCE 231

crystal vibrates uniformly and harmonically as a

circular piston, and that the electricalresponseof the
crystalis proportionalto the averagepressureover the
crystalat a giventime.
In order to simplify the analysisvarious other as-
sumptionshavebeenmade.Sincewe are concernedhere
only with the diffraction and beam divergencethe quartz
side view crystal
medium is considered to be an ideal fluid. Also it has
been assumedthat all reflectionsare completewith no
sample
energyloss,and that the sideboundariesare far enough
away to have negligible effect. Thus we treat this top view

problem as a circular piston sourceradiating into a

semi-infinitemedium,whereO•/On= constat the source quartz
crystal

and ihk/On=Oat the rest of the planeboundaryof the lb

medium. •k is the usual velocity potential without the
time factor and n is the normal of the plane, positive
into the medium.
Finding the average pressureover the receiving
crystal area involvesessentiallytwo integrations,i.e.,
the integrationover the boundaryof the piston source
(Green'stheorem) to get the diffractionfield at the
point of interestand the integrationof the field over the
receivingcrystal to get its response.Thus it involves
two interference effects; the first is contained in the I½
diffraction pattern while the secondis related to the
fact that the wave front is not strictly plane, i.e., posi- Fro. 1. (a) Schematicechopattern amplitudeof soundpulseas
a functionof echonumber.Deviation from exponentialbehavior
tive and negative pressuresoccurringsimultaneously indicated.(b) Arrangementof quartztransduceron specimen.(c)
on different parts of the crystal area can give inter- Coordinatesystemusedin calculations.
ference.
Therefore in approachingthis problem the ultra- has been done, also, by Meixne.r,7 Spence, 8 Storruste
sonicfield is first foundin the medium.Then, assuming and Wergeland. ø For computationsthe tables of
that the field doesnot changedue to the presenceof a
Stratton, Morse, Chu, and Hutner1øare often utilized.
receivingcrystal,the field is integratedover the receiver
area.
While the expressionis exact the approximationseries
derived from it is such that computationsbecomein-
THE'FIELD
creasinglydifficultfor high frequencies, especiallythose
Although this problemhas receivedconsiderableat- that are of interest in connectionwith megacylefre-
tentionfor a longtime therehasbeenincreasinginterest quencyultrasonicmeasurements in solids.
in it within recentyears.The fact that the integralform Another exact expressionis that due to King.'1
of the solutionfor the field cannotbe expressedin terms A similarresultwasobtainedby Levine and SchwingerTM
of elementaryfunctionshas resultedin the develop- utilizing variational principles. Miles'a used this ex-
ment of variousexpressions and approximationschemes pressionto compute the transmissioncoefficientand
for differentcases.Here we are mainly interestedin the comparedhisresultswith thoseobtainedby Bouwkamp
caseswhere the values of ka are large, i.e., the wave- and thoseobtainedby the Kirchhoff approximations.
length is considerablyshorter than the radius of the King deriveshis expressionfrom a generalizedsolu-
source.
tion in cylindrical coordinatesobtained by Bateman14
There are severalexactexpressions for the field which
are used in dealing with this problem. The methods ?J. Meixner, J. Naturforsch.3A, 506 (1948).
usedto derivetheseexpressions are essentiallythe same. s R. D. Spence,J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 20, (1948);21, 98 (1949).
• A. Storruste, Dit, Kgl. Norske Videnskab. Selskabs. For.
They all reduceto findinga solutionfor the equation XXI, No. 21; A. Storrusteand H. Wergeland,Phys. Rev. 73, 1397
(1948).
•oStratton, Morse, Chu, and Hutner, Elliptic, Cylindricaland
SpheroidalWave Functions,including Tables of Separation Con-
whichsatisfiesthe boundaryconditions&k/On=const, stantsand Coeficients(John Wiley and Sons,Inc., New York,
x_<a,Oq•/On=O,x> a on the boundary. 194•).
n L. V. King, Can. J. ResearchXI (1934).
One of these expressionsis due primarily to the l• H. Levineand J. Schwinger,Phys. Rev. 74, 958 (1948).
analysismade by Bouwkamp.6 Work along this line •sJ. W. Miles, J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 21, 140 (1949).
• H. Bateman, The Mathematical Analysis of Electrical and
6 C. J. Bouwkamp,Dissertation,Groningen(1941), J. Math. OpticalWaveMotion (CambridgeUniversity Press,•ew York,
and Phys.26, 79 (1947). , 1914).
232 SEKI, GRANA TO, AND TRUELL

and it is table givesvaluesfor y-•r, 2•r,--- 10•rwherey-kayz.

Therefore if no additional calculationswere made,
roa
•'0
• dX valuesfor only z= 2ayX, ayX, (2/3)ayX,... (2/10)a¾)•
would have been calculated near the Fresnel zone
(z<ayX) and the point of inflectionwhich appears
wherefv is the velocitypotentialat the field point P,
near ayX would have been missed.This method also
V0is&k/Onat the source,andt•= (X2- k2)•.
enabledthe computationof the wave-frontpattern and
z and x are cylindricalcoordinatesof the point P.
the maximumpressureprofile.
Williamsa usedKing's resultsand derivedexpressions
Our calculationwasmadeindependentlyof Lommel's
for f alongthe peripheryandfor the averagevalueof f results and at closer intervals. A set of dimensions
over the crystal area ((f) in his notation). This is in
characteristicof thosefrequentlyusedin our measure-
generala complexnumber, the magnitudeof which he ments is as follows:
callsthe rms pressure,(p) rms. This, (p) rms, is pro-
portionalto the maximumintegratedresponseof the f=30 mc/sec X=0.0167 cm
quartz crystalduringa period.Williamsthen developed c= 0.5 cm/•sec ka= 226
an approximateformulaand carriedout computations a=0.6 cm ayX= 21.55 cm.
for ka-- 100and 2000.Theseresultsare quitesimilarto
The pressureat point P is the real part of
thosecomputedby Huntington,Emslie,and Hughes/
The last exactexpression to be mentionedhereis the
oldest,and probablythe bestknown;it wasintroduced
by Rayleigh•5 kcpVo
• f• •(•t-•)
•
P=P•p=ikcpei•¾• r
•d•

Vol.
e-ikr =kcpVo•
•', sin(kct--
,kcpVo•
2rd,cos(kct--k
kr)'d•--' .d•
wherer is the distancefrom the point P to the surface where
elementd•. LommeP6investigated the sameproblemfor
light waves,and usingHuygens'principle,deriveda
similar result. It might be mentionedthat Lommel's Lommel'smethodwasusedto computethe first integral.
expressionwas not for the velocity potential but for The form of his final expression was changedsomewhat
velocity. He further derivedformulasof converging to suit our purposeand our final formula used for
infinite serieswhichare usefulin approximatingthis computationis
expression in computation.Lommelalsowent through
the laboriousprocessof computingthe results for p=cos(kct-kz) Vocos• • V• sink(x•+a2)-- 1
variouscases.He tabulatedthe resultsof his computa- 2z
tion and checkedthem with experimentalvalues.
Huntington,Emslie,andHughes• madeuseof Lommel's
result to computethe (p) rms. Schoch •7 developed +sin(kct-- kz) Vosin.• V1cosk(x•+a•)
2z
Rayleigh'sexpression to get an approximateformula where
for very largevaluesof ka; his expression is discussed o• Ix\ -•'• /kax\
by Williams and Carter.•8
n•---O

COMPUTATIONS

Computationsin this paper were made using the

approximation formulas of LommeP6 and Williams? n==0

Computationby Lommel'smethod was made first for

one special case of interest since examination of the V0and Vxare the sameasthosein Lommel'spapers,and
table givenby LommeP• madeit appearpossiblethat the above expressioncan be derived from his results.
the computationsmade by Huntington, Emslie and If we set
Hughes•' couldhave been:'forintervalswhich were so k(x•-}-a•) k(x•-}-a•)
large that the point of inflectionwas missed.Lommel's X(x,z)= Vocos.-- • V• sin--- 1
2z 2z

•5Rayleigh, The Theoryof Sound (Macmillan and Company,

New York, 1940),Vol. II.
•6E. Lomrnel,Abhandl. d. bayeri. Akad. Wiss. 15, 233 (1886). Y(x,z)= V0 sin.-- V• cos-
Lommel'smethodis discussed in Englishin A Treatiseon Bessel 2z 2z
Functionsby Gray, Matthews and MacRobert, Macmillan and then
Company,Ltd., London.
•7A. Schoch,Akust. Z. 6, 318 (1941). p (x,z,t)= X (x,z)cos(kct--kz)+ Y (x,z)sin(kct--kz)
•8A. H. Carter and A. O. Williams, Jr., J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 23,
179 (1951). = cosiest-
 ULTRASONIC FIELD OF A PISTON SOURCE 233

2-•or-•

0••,,,•,/•_• Z=34
i i i ! i i

Z:32

i i

Z=$O

i i i i i i i ! i i i

• Z=28
i i i i i i i i i i i

24 $=1 II

Z=26
\
i i i i i i i i i i i

1.21 Z=24
I i ! i !

Z=22

I I I i i i
i I i i i i

Z=20
i i I i, I t
i i i i i i i i i i i

• i i i i i i i i i i i
,••••-,,
•, Z=•8
Z=16

i i x
o'.•o'.•0.4' •.• o'.•6, o.• o.• o.• o.,•o.• o.• x 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.$ 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 x

Fro. 2. Maximum pressureprofiles as a function of radial FIO. 3. Phase angle (•,/2•r) variation acrossthe receiver for
positionx and axial positionz. $ is the samedistancemeasured successiveaxial positions.Theseprofilesapproximatevery closely
in units of ayX. the shapeof the wavefront.

where plane Z=Zo as a function of x is given by ek(x,z,t)

,• (x,z)= tan-• Y/X. = [wt-kz-'•(x,z)-I whenz and t are held constantat
Z=Zo and t=to. A plot of the phaseangle •,/2•r as a
(X•'-½Y•')•,the maximumvalue of the pressurefor the function of the radial positionx is given in Fig. 3. It
point P, is plotted againstx, for a given z, giving the turns out that thesecurvesof -•(x) as a function of x
profileof pm=asshownin Fig. 2. closelyapproximatethe shape of the phase front ob-
It hasalreadybeenpointedout that phasevariations tained by holdingq• and t constantand allowingz to
over the transducersurfacecontribute to an apparent vary as a function of x in the neighborhoodof z= z0.
attenuation. Consequentlyit is important to know The maximumphasevariation or changein •, along
what the phasevariationsare for variousaxial distances the radiusx overthe rangeof x and z coveredis lessthan
z so that the apparent attenuation causedby phase a fifth of a wavelength.Since the crystal diameter is
variationscanbe evaluated.The phasevariation in the 1.2 cm or about 75 wavelengths,we seethat the wave
234 SEKI• GRANATO, AND TRUELL

2.0

1.9

1.8

I.?

1.6
1.5
1.4

1.3

1.2

I.I

1.0

max

4 8 12

FIG. 4. The time maximumvaluesof the spaceaverageof the pressure(p)maxover the crystalface as a function of axial
positionin units of ayX. Also P0m• and p.... the maximumvaluesof p(x,z,t) attained at centerof quartz crystal and at
periphery.

is plane to a high degreeof approximation.Conse- f• Xdo- and f• Ydo' were found graphically. This
quently interferencepossiblefrom this effect will be graphicalmethod reducedthe accuracybut was good
small. enoughto bring out the peak near a2/X as shownin
(p)maxis the maximumvalueof the integral(during Fig. 4. Showntogetherin this graphare the plot of the
a period)of p(x,z,t)overthe receiving
crystalarea.The maximum values of pressureat the periphery, p•
spaceaverage valueof p(x,z,t)overthecrystalis and on the axis, P0m•.x-They are derived by setting
x= a and x=0 respectivelyin the expressionfor Pm•x.
(p): pds
:
=12[cos(•ct-
•z)
• Xao--
sin
(•ct-
•z)
• rao-].
At the maximumvalueof f• pdo-duringa period P0
max ka2,•«
=2sin
• 2--2cost-] ka2
'--
4Z'

The latter expressioncan also be obtainedby making

O•f•
pdo'=O the approximation
from which
(z:•q-a•)
«• z+-- in the exactexpression
2z

•k0= (Vo/ik){e-•k*- exp[- ik (z2+a2)•}

 ULTRASONIC FIELD OF A PISTON SOURCE 235

Plotof 4l))ma
• for
which can be derived directly from both Rayleigh's ko ßlOG,200, I000 usiq
andKing's expressions. Willlores' formulo

A carefulexaminationof thesecurvessuggestsa close

relationbetweenthe (P)maxand Pamaxcurves.Thus a
peak might be expectedbetween2a•X and 4a•X, and Curve
g,yen
byWJlhoms'
paper
possiblyanotherone beforea•X. The followingcom-
putation showsthat theseexpectationsare borne out.
The plots of Figs. 2 and 3 show the deviationsfrom
planewavebehaviorin the Fresnelzone,as well as the
gradualdevelopmentof a sphericalwaveas z increases.
The values of this computation were checkedwith
Lommel'stable at a•/X. I.O 21) •0 41) (oø/•)

Having thus found that the obse•ed effect was, for

this spec•c set of parameters,a diffractioneffect, cal-
c•ations weremade for a much wider rangeof param-
eters. In addition calc•ations were made using the togetherwith the conditionthat for the error to be less
approx•ation formulasof Williams as a further check than onepercent
on the existenceof the new peaks.His formulais given N < 0.25.

Computationswere made for ka-50, 100, 200, and

(•)=
(Vo/ik)e-•{
1--[exp(--iM-iN)•
• 1000. Although the curvesare not the samefor all four
cases,the curvesfor ka= 100, 200, and 1000 cannot be
X (1--N•/4)Jo(•)+i 1-N•/4+•N J•(•) distinguishedon a graph drawn to the scaleof Fig. 5.
The curve for ka--50 is similar but not shown. The
valuesmay be obtainedfrom Table I. The curve given
-iNJ•(•)+i (N•/8--iN/2)Ja (•) by Williams is superimposedon the ka-100 curve in
Fig. 5 whichshowsappreciabledifferencesthoughthey

where
--(N•f4)Ja(M)
- (iN•fa)J•(M)]} crossat many points.The db lossrelative to the initial
amplitudeis plotted in Fig. 6. The db curve is usefulin
M= kaS/z- ka4f • •, N= ka•/4z• determiningthe correctionnecessarybetweenany two
pointsof measurement.
TABLEI. Values of p rms. COMPARISON OF CALCULATED PEAK POSITION
db WITH EXPERIMENTS
drop in echo
S ka --50 ka --100 ka --200 ka --1000 amplitude
The resultsof the computationagreerather well with
0.2 1.04198 0.8860 0.9053 0.9057 0.868
0.3 0.8612
available experimental data. As an example several
0.8821 0.8844 0.8851 1.070
0.4 0.8585 0.8716 0.8707 0.8643 1.198 photographsof the echopattern are shownhere. These
0.5 0.9223 0.8581 0.8570 0.8567 1.342 photographs showechoesin oneof the lowerattenuating
0.6 0.8381 0.8357 0.8355 0.8356 1.554
0.7 0.8376 0.8377 0.8375 0.8374 1.548
germaniumsamplessuppliedto us by the Bell Tele-
0.8 0.8310 0.8140 0.8176 0.8147 1.776
0.9 0.8045 0.8029 0.8025 0.8022 1.910
1.0 0.8107 0.8090 0.8083 0.8082 1.848
1.05 0.8110 0.8098
1.1 0.8078 0.8077 0.8075 1.862
1.2 0.9922 0.7929 0.7933 2.014
1.4 0.7529 0.7535 0.7538 2.458
1.6 0.7364 0.7359 0.7360 2.664
1.8 0.7415 0.7421 0.7422 2.600
2.0 0.7528 0.7517 0.7518 2.478
2.2 0.7608 0.7600 2.386
2.4 0.7622 0.7616 2.358
2.6 0.7571 0.7578 2.404
2.8 0.7472 0.7467 2.536
3.0 0.7330 0.7328 2.708
3.2 0.7162 0.7163 2.904
3.4 0.6982 0.6982 3.118
3.6 0.6794 0.6792 3.364
3.8 0.6598 0.6596 3.607
4.0 0.6409 0.6407 3.862
5.0 0.5511
6.0 0.4780
7.0 0.4198
Fro. 6. Valuesof (p)max
in decibelsdownfrominitialamplitude,
plottedas a functionof axialpositionin unitsof a:/X. This is the
S: in units of a:/X (distance away from the piston); db -- --20 log p rms. apparentlossin'db causedby diffractioneffectsalone.
236 SEKI, GRANATO, AND TRUELL

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fro. 7. Photographsof observednon-

exponential decay patterns in the fre-
quency range from 5 to 45 mc/sec. Ex-
ponential decay curve is superimposed
on echopattern. Calculatedlocationsof
1st, 2nd, and 3rd diffraction peaks are
indicated. First peak is too small to be
visible, but 2nd and 3rd peaks are ob-
servable;

phoneLaboratories.In a specificcasethe calculated mum for the secondpeak (1.05 a•'/X) is strongerand
positionsof the three peaksare listed for variousfre- always observable.The third peak is difficult to find
quencies in TableII. Thepositions oœthepeaksaregiven exceptat the low frequenciesbecausethe attenuation
both in units of centimeters and numbers of echoes. of the echoeshas by this time overwhelmedand con-
•Theexpectedlocations
of thethreepeaksareshown cealedthe muchsmallervariationscausedby diffraction
on the photographsof Fig. 7 for variousfrequencies effects. It must be remembered that the diffraction
from 5 mc/secto 45 mc/sec.The first maximumis in theory usedis that developedwith an ideal fluid as a
eachcasevery weakanddiffi•t to observe.The maxi- mediumsothat the agreementhereis really better than
 ULTRASONIC FIELD OF A PISTON SOURCE 237

TABLEII. Specimenthickness'1.27 cm. Crystal' X cut 5 mc per second,a=0.635 cm. Velocity' approx0.48 cm/•sec.

Photo 1st peak 2nd peak 3rd peak

• f a2/X (0.?3 aYX) (1.05 a2/X) (2.4 ayX)

1 5 4.2 cm 3.15 cm 1.2 echo 4.41 cm 1.7 echo 10.07 cm 4.0 echo
2 15 12.6 9.45 3.7 13.23 5.2 30.25 11.9
3 25 21.0 15.76 6.2 22.08 8.7 50.4 19.9
4 35 29.4 22.1 8.7 30.9 12.2 70.5 27.8
5 45 37.8 28.3 11.2 39.9 15.7 90.6 35.7

Photographs in Fig. 7 shown the numbers 1, 2, and 3 which indicate the calculated positions of the peaks.

one shouldexpect.In addition it is to be expectedthat of the initial amplitude.Theseratios can of coursebe

this discussionand analysiswould not apply to the stated in terms of db below the initial value, 1.8 db
comparabletransversewave diffraction pattern; ex- downfor the secondpeak and 2.3 db downfor the third
perimentalobservationsconfirmthis statement. peak.
An examplewill now be workedout. Assumingthe
CORRECTION OF ABSORPTION MEASUREMENTS calibratedexponentialis matchedon the secondpeak,
TAKING ACCOUNT OF DIFFRACTION EFFECTS the dropin decibels at thispoint (1.05a•'/X)is givenby
Fig. 6 as 1.8 db. Thus the attenuationdue to diffraction
The results of these computationscan be used to (a•) isgivenby
determinethe correctionnecessaryto accountfor dif- 1.8 db
fraction and beam divergence in accurate measure- •d • • --•
ments.Correctionfactorsfor diffractionwill, of course, 1.05 a2//Xcm
dependon what part of the diffractionregionis being or
usedfor measurements. The existenceof the peakswill c db
in some casesfacilitate measurementssince they are 1.7.-- .
easy to recognizeand serveas referencepoints. Their a•f cm
existencein the right positionwill serveas a checkon Usingthe values
whether one has a situation near the ideal one of a
a= 0.635 cm
circular piston source.Here correctionfactors which
wouldapply to the type of measurementmade in this c= 4.8X 105cm/sec
laboratoryare discussed. f= 15X 10øcycles/sec,
The methodof measurementusedis that of matching we obtain
a calibratedexponentialcurveto the echopattern. Since
aa=0.13 db/cm.
the patternisnot a smoothexponentialcurvebecause of
diffractioneffectsthe exponential
curveis matched This correctiondecreases
with increasing
frequency.
to the initial echo,and to one of the peaks,whichever In most cases,the attenuation of the specimenin-
oneis mostconvenient.The two peaksmostlikely to be creaseswith frequencyso that the diffraction correc-
usedare the second(1.05 a•'/X)and the third (2.4 a•'/X) tion is important at the lowerfrequencies
and becomes
wherethe echoamplitudeis 0.82 and 0.76 respectively negligibleat the higherfrequencies.
The attenuationmeasuredin the photographsand
Gorrected Att•nuohon Volu•s Ge•moldunt

cutcry•tal
(o,.G3Scm) Single
CryItel
the correctedvaluesare listed and plotted in Fig. 8
db•m
as an example.The specimenwas a singlecrystal of
germanium.

Quartz transducer 5 mc X cut crystal (a--0.635 cm)

Measured Corrected
f mc/sec (db/cm) Correction value

5 0.27 /xaa 0.24 0.03

15 0.17 zXa•. 0.13 0.04
25 0.15 /xa•. 0.08 0.07
35 0.17 zXa•. 0.05 0.12
45 0.20 ,xa2 0.04 0.16
f(,.c

Fro. 8. The dotted curve (a') showsthe frequencydependence

of the attenuation before the diffraction correction. The full curve The fact that the correctedvalue curveof Fig. 8 cannot
(a) showsthe correctedvalues. be extrapolatedto the origin may indicate that other
238 SEKI, GRANATO,
types of lossesare present which have not been ac-
countedfor. There may be for examplesmallreflection
lossesat the crystal coupling.At the presenttime it
shotfid be pointed out again that the agreement is
perhapsbetterthan shouldbe expected.
The measurements may be correctedin other ways.
If the smallirregularitiesin the echopatternareignored
AND TRUELL
and only the averagedecayrate is measured,then the
averageslopeof Fig. 6 shouldbe used.This is an atten-
uationof aboutonedecibelper distanceof a•'/X.
Thus the figure of one decibelper a•X servesas a
usefulgeneralestimateof the attenuationdue to diffrac-
tion,andit providesa roughcriterionfor theimportance
of diffraction effects in the measurement of attenuation.