Article 1

Zero-thickness Broadband Holograms Based on Acoustic Sieve 2

Metasurfaces 3

Ye Tian 1, *, Shu-Yu Zuo 2,*, Qian Lv 1, Guanjun Yin 1 and Jianzhong Guo 1,* 4

1 Key Laboratory of Ultrasound of Shaanxi Province, School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi 5
Normal University, Xi’an 710062, China; lvqian@snnu.edu.cn (Q.L.); yinchamp@snnu.edu.cn (G.Y.) 6
2 College of Science, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China 7
* Correspondence: tianye@snnu.edu.cn (Y.T.); zuoshuyu@haut.edu.cn (S.Z.); guojz@snnu.edu.cn (J.G.); Tel.: 8
+86‐186‐2646‐4563 (Y.T.) 9

Abstract: Acoustic holography is an essential tool for controlling sound waves, generating highly 10
complex and customizable sound fields, and enabling the visualization of sound fields. Based on 11
acoustic sieve metasurfaces (ASMs), this paper proposes a theoretical design approach for zero- 12
thickness broadband holograms. The ASM is a zero-thickness rigid screen with a large number of 13
small holes that allow sound waves to pass through them and produce the desired real image in the 14
target plane. The hole arrangement rules are determined using a genetic algorithm and the Ray- 15
leigh-Sommerfeld theory. Because the wave from a hole has no extra phase or amplitude modula- 16
tion, the intractable modulation dispersion can be physically avoided, allowing the proposed ASM- 17
based hologram to potentially function in any frequency band as long as the condition of paraxial 18
approximation is satisfied. Based on numerical simulation, this research achieves broadband holo- 19
graphic imaging with a good effect in the megahertz ultrasonic frequency band. The proposed zero- 20
thickness broadband hologram may provide new possibilities for acoustic holography applications. 21

Keywords: acoustic holography; ultrasonic holography; metasurface; broadband hologram; Ul- 22

trathin hologram 23
24

Citation: Tian, Y.; Zuo, S.; Lv, Q.; 1. Introduction 25

Yin, G.; Guo, J. Title. Appl. Sci. 2022, Acoustic holography [1,2] is an essential tool for controlling sound waves, generating 26
12, x. https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx
highly complex and customizable sound fields, and enabling the visualization of sound 27
Academic Editor: Firstname Last- fields. Due to its powerful and flexible capability of arbitrary sound beam shaping and 28
name pre-designed sound field reconstruction, acoustic holography has recently received in- 29
creased attention in many fields, including medicine [3-6], engineering [7,8], and biology 30
Received: date
[9-11], in addition to acoustics. Many applications have been made possible by acoustic 31
Accepted: date
Published: date
holography, including acoustic fabrication [7], beam shaping [12-20], acoustic holographic 32
imaging [3,8,15-28], volumetric display [29,30], volumetric haptics [31,32], particle manip- 33
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neu- ulation [11,21,26,33,34], cell manipulation [9,10], characterizing medical ultrasound [4,5], 34
tral with regard to jurisdictional
neurostimulation and neuromodulation [6], and energy transfer [25]. 35
claims in published maps and institu-
Instead of acoustically recording a hologram from a physical scene with an exacting 36
tional affiliations.
recording environment and a complex process, modern computer-generated holograms 37
directly calculate the required phase and/or amplitude maps in the acoustic holographic 38
plane before rendering them for reconstruction [35]. The algorithms used include the it- 39
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
erative angular spectrum approach [21], the iterative backpropagation algorithm [33], the 40
Submitted for possible open access
weighted Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm [20], the pseudo-inverse method [36], the conju- 41
publication under the terms and
gate field method [37], the deep learning [35], and so on. Physically, these calculated maps 42
conditions of the Creative Commons
are realized by either discrete and independently driven elements of the active phased- 43
Attribution (CC BY) license
array emitters [3-5,27-34] (such as the loudspeakers in air or piezoelectric transducers in 44
(https://creativecommons.org/license
s/by/4.0/).
water) or meta-pixels of passive acoustic metasurfaces [6-9,12-25,38], or a combination of 45

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, x. https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 9

both [26]. In the reconstruction process, these acoustic holographic devices with the re- 46
quired phase and/or amplitude distributions diffract sound waves to form the desired real 47
image in the pre-designed image plane. 48
Metasurface-based acoustic holograms, which have become a research hotspot in the 49
field of acoustic holography in recent years, can overcome the disadvantages of active 50
phased-array holograms, such as complex structure and circuit, high power consumption, 51
and the need for careful calibration and tuning. That is, holography can be realized with 52
low cost, large aperture, large scale, high precision, and high frequency using metasur- 53
face-based acoustic holograms [18]. However, due to the structural complexity of 54
metasurface units, their thickness is still not ultra-thin, especially in high frequency bands, 55
which makes expanding the application range of metasurface-based acoustic holograms 56
difficult. To address the aforementioned issues, this paper proposes a design concept for 57
an acoustic sieve metasurface (ASM) that can theoretically realize a zero-thickness broad- 58
band hologram. The ASM is a rigid screen with many small holes, through which the 59
sound wave can pass to obtain the desired real image in the target plane. The arrangement 60
rules of holes on ASM can be found using optimization algorithms (a genetic algorithm 61
[39,40] in this paper) and the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld theory [36]. There is no thickness limit 62
as long as the ASM-based hologram is sufficiently rigid relative to the background me- 63
dium, so it can theoretically achieve zero thickness. Furthermore, because the wave from 64
a hole has no additional phase or amplitude modulation, the intractable modulation dis- 65
persion can be physically eliminated, allowing the proposed ASM-based hologram to po- 66
tentially work in any frequency band as long as the condition of paraxial approximation 67
is satisfied. Based on numerical simulation, we achieve broadband holographic imaging 68
in the megahertz ultrasonic frequency band, and the excellent imaging effect confirms the 69
feasibility of our design scheme. 70

2. Hologram Realized by the Array of Identical Point Sources 71

72
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of a hologram based on an array of identical PSs. The PSs (represented 73
by red dots) are at the grid nodes (represented by 𝐺𝑚,𝑛 ) of an 𝑁 × 𝑁 array with a distance d between 74
two neighboring nodes, where 𝑚, 𝑛 = 1, 2, 3, … , 𝑁 . The grid node 𝐺𝑚,𝑛 takes the value 𝐴𝑚,𝑛 = 75
0 or 1, where 1 means a PS exists in this grid node and 0 means no PS. According to the Rayleigh- 76
Sommerfeld theory, the diffraction pattern in the image plane is the superposition of the sound 77
waves generated by these PSs. 78

First, we discuss the holographic principle based on an array of identical point 79

sources (PSs). As shown in Figure 1, the PSs (represented by red dots) with source strength 80
𝑄0 are located at the grid nodes (represented by 𝐺𝑚,𝑛 ) of an N × N array with a distance 81
D between two neighboring nodes, where m, n = 1, 2, …, N. Every grid node is assigned a 82
value of 1 or 0, with 1 indicating the presence of a PS and 0 indicating the absence of a PS. 83
According to Rayleigh-Sommerfeld theory [36], the sound pressure of an array of PSs at 84
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 9

any point (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) in space can be described as a superposition of sound fields from all of 85
these PSs 86
𝑁 𝑁 −i𝑘0 𝑅𝑚,𝑛
i𝜌0 𝑐0 𝑘0 𝑄0 e
𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = ∑ ∑ 𝐴𝑚,𝑛 (1) 87
2𝜋 𝑅𝑚,𝑛
𝑚=1 𝑛=1

where 𝜌0 and 𝑐0 are, respectively, the density and the speed of sound in the medium, 𝑘0 88
is the wave number, 𝐴𝑚,𝑛 = 0 or 1 is the value of 𝐺𝑚,𝑛 , 𝑅𝑚,𝑛 = 89
√(𝑥𝑚,𝑛 − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦𝑚,𝑛 − 𝑦)2 + 𝑧 2 is the distance from 𝐺𝑚,𝑛 to the point (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) , and 90
(𝑥𝑚,𝑛 , 𝑦𝑚,𝑛 , 0) is the coordinate of 𝐺𝑚,𝑛 . 91
From Equation (1), a desired real image in the target plane can be designed by using 92
a modified genetic algorithm [39] that only contains the mutation and evolution opera- 93
tions for a chromosome encoding the value (0 or 1) of every grid node. The specific oper- 94
ation process of the modified genetic algorithm in this paper is as follows: 95
1. Randomly generate a chromosome 𝐴1 (each subsequent generation of chromosome 96
is named 𝐴2 , 𝐴3 , …, 𝐴n , …). 𝐴1 contains all 𝐴𝑚,𝑛 , each 𝐴𝑚,𝑛 as a gene, and the 97
value of each gene is only 0 or 1. Moreover, let 𝐴 = 𝐴1 . 98
2. Calculate the sound field 𝑝1 (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) (each subsequent generation of sound field is 99
named 𝑝2 , 𝑝3 , …, 𝑝n , …) generated by chromosome 𝐴 in the desired image plane 100
(the distance from the hologram is 𝑧0 ) based on Equation (1), and let 𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) = 101
𝑝1 (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ). 102
3. Using 𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) and the desired sound field 𝑝desired (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) (e.g. a four-pointed 103
star pattern in this paper, Figure 2a) in the image plane, the root-mean-square error 104
(RMSE) is calculated as the value of the fitness function 𝐹1 (each subsequent gener- 105
ation of fitness function is represented by 𝐹2 , 𝐹3 , …, 𝐹n , …), and let 𝐹 = 𝐹1 . 106

𝐼 𝐽 2
𝐸(𝑥𝑖 , 𝑦𝑗 , 𝑧0 ) 𝐸desired (𝑥𝑖 , 𝑦𝑗 , 𝑧0 )
RMSE = √∑ [∑ [ − ] ]⁄(𝐼 ∙ 𝐽 − 1) 107
MAX(𝐸) MAX(𝐸desired )
𝑖=1 𝑗=1

2
where 𝐸(𝑥𝑖 , 𝑦𝑗 , 𝑧0 ) ∝ 𝑝2 (𝑥𝑖 , 𝑦𝑗 , 𝑧0 ) and 𝐸desired (𝑥𝑖 , 𝑦𝑗 , 𝑧0 ) ∝ 𝑝desired (𝑥𝑖 , 𝑦𝑗 , 𝑧0 ) respec- 108
tively represent the sound energy generated by the hologram and the sound energy 109
of the desired image at (𝑥𝑖 , 𝑦𝑗 , 𝑧0 ) in the image plane; MAX(𝐸) and MAX(𝐸desired ) 110
respectively represent the maximum values of 𝐸 and 𝐸desired ; I and J respectively 111
represent the numbers of samples along the x direction and the y direction. The RMSE 112
is a sensitive method to show the profile differences between the sound energy gen- 113
erated by the hologram and the sound energy of the desired image, and can be used 114
to characterize the imaging quality in the image plane. The smaller the value of 115
RMSE, the closer the sound field of the image plane is to the desired sound field. 116
When RMSE = 0, it means that the image generated by the hologram is exactly the 117
same as the desired image. 118
4. Perform a mutation operation (1 → 0 or 0 → 1) for a random gene 𝐴a,b whose coor- 119
dinate is (𝑥𝑚,𝑛 , 𝑦𝑚,𝑛 , 0) in the parent chromosome A to generate the offspring chro- 120
mosome 𝐴n . 121
5. Calculate the effect of this mutation for the sound field in the desired image plane by 122
Rayleigh-Sommerfeld theory, represented by 𝑝mutated (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ). When the mutation 123
operation is 1 → 0, according to Equation (1), 𝑝mutated (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) satisfies 124

−i𝑘0 √(𝑥a,b −𝑥)2 +(𝑦a,b −𝑦)2 +𝑧0 2

i𝜌0 𝑐0 𝑘0 𝑄0 e
𝑝mutated (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) = − 125
2𝜋 √(𝑥a,b − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦a,b − 𝑦)2 + 𝑧0 2

When the mutation operation is 0 → 1, 𝑝mutated (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) satisfies 126

Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 9

−i𝑘0 √(𝑥a,b −𝑥)2 +(𝑦a,b −𝑦)2 +𝑧0 2

i𝜌0 𝑐0 𝑘0 𝑄0 e
𝑝mutated (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) = 127
2𝜋 √(𝑥a,b − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦a,b − 𝑦)2 + 𝑧0 2

6. Superimpose this effect on the parent sound field 𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) to get the offspring 128
sound field 𝑝n (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) in the desired image plane, where 129
𝑝n (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) = 𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) + 𝑝mutated (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) 130

7. Calculate the value (RMSE) of the offspring fitness function 𝐹n by 𝑝n (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) and 131
𝑝desired (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ). 132
8. Compare the magnitudes of 𝐹n and 𝐹, and take the smaller one as the new parent 133
fitness function. The chromosome with the smaller fitness function is taken as the 134
new parent chromosome, and the sound field with the smaller fitness function is 135
taken as the new parent sound field. That is, if 𝐹n < 𝐹 , then let 𝐹 = 𝐹n , 𝐴 = 𝐴n , 136
𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) = 𝑝n (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ); if 𝐹 < 𝐹n , then let 𝐹 = 𝐹, 𝐴 = 𝐴, 𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ) = 𝑝(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧0 ). If 137
𝐹 is always less than 𝐹n for a certain number (such as 100000 times) of iterations, 138
then record chromosome 𝐴 and end the iteration. 139
9. If the iteration does not end, go back to step 4. 140
Figure 2a shows the desired image. Based on Figure 2a, the overall map (as shown in 141
Figure 2b) of the encoded PSs can be designed by the modified genetic algorithm at 𝑧0 = 142
120𝜆0 , where 𝜆0 = 𝑐0 ⁄𝑓0 = 1 mm is the wavelength (the background medium is chosen 143
as water with the sound velocity of 𝑐0 = 1500 m⁄s and the density of 𝜌0 = 1000 kg⁄m3 , 144
and the radiation frequency is set as 𝑓0 = 1.5 MHz). The distance between grid nodes is 145
𝐷 = 𝜆0 , and there are 50 grid nodes in the horizontal and vertical directions, so the size of 146
the hologram is 50𝜆0 × 50𝜆0 , which is the same as the size of the desired image. Numeri- 147
cal simulation is used to confirm the performance of the PS array. Figure 2c shows the 148
simulation result, which shows a clear image that closely matches the desired image. 149

150
Figure 2. Holographic imaging based on the PS array. (a) Desired image (a four-pointed star). the 151
background medium is chosen as water with the sound velocity 𝑐0 = 1500 m⁄s and the density 152
𝜌0 = 1000 kg⁄m3 , and the radiation frequency is set as 𝑓0 = 1.5 MHz , so wavelength is 𝜆0 = 153
𝑐0 ⁄𝑓0 = 1 mm; (b) The overall map of hologram based on PS array designed by the modified genetic 154
algorithm. Each black dot represents a PS. The distance between grid nodes is 𝐷 = 𝜆0 and the dis- 155
tance of the desired image plane from the hologram is 𝑧0 = 120𝜆0; (c) Normalized energy distribu- 156
tion in the image plane. It is calculated by numerical simulation based on the hologram shown in 157
(b). The RMSE between this holographic image and the desired image shown in (a) is 0.1738. 158

3. Zero-thickness Holograms Based on Acoustic Sieve Metasurfaces 159

To approximate the PS array, we consider an acoustic sieve metasurface (ASM) that 160
is a zero-thickness rigid screen with many small holes of subwavelength size. A sound 161
field similar to that of a PS can be created by sound waves passing through a small hole. 162
Despite the fact that a small hole in a rigid screen cannot be considered an ideal PS because 163
it must radiate an ideal spherical wave, we find that the sound field diffracted from a 164
small hole is nearly identical to the sound field diffracted from an ideal PS, which is 165
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 9

important because the reconstruction of a holographic image is largely dependent on the 166
fields of diffraction units (such as holes or PSs) in the image plane. Furthermore, the trans- 167
mitted wave from the small hole propagates forward, while the reflected wave has no 168
bearing on image reconstruction. As a result, we introduce the concept of ASMs for reali- 169
zation of hologram. 170

171
Figure 3. Mimicking a PS by a small hole. (a) Illustration for a simulation model of PS (or holes of 172
various diameters) radiation. The green part is a rigid circular boundary with a diameter of 30𝜆0; 173
(b) Normalized energy profiles 𝐸hole (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 )⁄𝐸hole (0, 0, 4𝜆0 ) of holes of various diameters calcu- 174
lated using the numerical simulation based on the model of (a). The various pseudocolors of curves 175
represent the various hole diameters d. The black curve is the normalized energy profile 176
𝐸PS (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 )⁄𝐸PS (0, 0, 4𝜆0 ) radiating from an ideal PS; (c) A quantitative evaluation of radiations 177
from holes of various diameters. Each blue asterisk represents a RMSE between 178
𝐸hole (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 )⁄MAX(𝐸hole ) [color curves in (b)] from a d-diameter hole and 179
𝐸PS (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 )⁄MAX(𝐸PS ) [black curve in (b)] from the ideal PS. Each red dot represents the loga- 180
rithm of the simulated 𝐸hole (0, 0, 4𝜆0 )⁄𝐸hole (0, 0, 4𝜆0 )|𝑑=𝜆0 from a d-diameter hole. 181

First, as shown in Figure 3a, we investigate the lateral profile of the sound field from 182
a PS in the middle of a circular rigid boundary with a diameter of 30𝜆0 . On the red dashed 183
line in Figure 3a, we calculate the lateral (x-y plane) energy profiles in the z-cut plane of 184
𝑧 = 4𝜆0 . This distance ( 4𝜆0 ) is beyond the evanescent region while remaining small 185
enough that the simulation model does not consume excessive computational resources 186
or memory space. Then, in the same model, the PS is replaced with holes of various diam- 187
eters (𝑑 = 0.01𝜆0 , 0.02𝜆0 , 0.03𝜆0 , … , 𝜆0 ) to allow plane sound waves to pass through. We 188
calculated the lateral energy profiles of the same location (the red dashed line) generated 189
by plane sound waves passing through holes of various diameters using numerical simu- 190
lations. The lateral normalized energy profiles of the ideal PS and holes of various diam- 191
eters are shown in Figure 2b. As can be seen, the smaller the hole's diameter, the closer 192
the energy profile approaches the ideal PS. By calculating their RMSEs (shown by blue 193
asterisks in figure 2c), the degree of approximation between PS and holes of various di- 194
ameters can be quantitatively verified 195

𝐾 2
𝐸hole (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 ) 𝐸PS (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 )
RMSE = √∑ [ − ] ⁄(𝐾 − 1) 196
𝐸hole (0, 0, 4𝜆0 ) 𝐸PS (0, 0, 4𝜆0 )
𝑘=1

2 2 (𝑥
where 𝐸hole (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 ) ∝ 𝑝hole (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 ) and 𝐸PS (𝑥𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 ) ∝ 𝑝PS 𝑘 , 0, 4𝜆0 ) are the en- 197
ergy profiles of the hole and ideal PS, respectively, and 𝐾 = 1500 is the sampling number 198
in the x direction. Calculated RMSE values (blue asterisks) and relative transmitted ener- 199
gies (red dots) for holes of various diameters are shown in Figure 2c. The RMSE decreases 200
as the hole size decreases, as shown in the figure, implying that the smaller the hole size, 201
the better the effect of the hole simulating PS. Furthermore, the figure shows that as the 202
hole size decreases, the transmitted energy decreases as well, and when the hole diameter 203
is less than 0.2𝜆0 , the energy decay rate is significantly accelerated. As a result, we choose 204
𝑑 = 0.2𝜆0 (i.e., 0.2 mm) as the diameter value of the ASM holes to balance the effect and 205
efficiency. 206
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 6 of 9

Then, instead of the PSs in Figure 2b, we use the holes with a diameter of 𝑑 = 0.2𝜆0 207
to construct the ASM-based hologram shown in Figure 4a. Figure 4b shows the image of 208
the ASM-based hologram calculated using the numerical simulation in the image plane. 209
As can be seen, this image closely resembles the desired image. 210

211
Figure 4. Holographic imaging of an ASM. (a) The overall map of the ASM-based hologram based 212
on small holes. The light gray area is the zero-thickness rigid screen, and the small circles are the 213
holes with a diameter of 𝑑 = 0.2𝜆0; (b) Normalized energy distribution in the image plane calcu- 214
lated by numerical simulation from the hologram shown in (a). In the numerical simulation, all of 215
the acoustic and geometric parameters of the holographic imaging system based on the ASM are 216
the same as those of the holographic imaging system based on the PS array. The RMSE between this 217
holographic image and the desired image shown in Figure 2(a) is 0.1767. 218

4. Zero-thickness Broadband Holograms 219

It is worth noting that the wave from a hole has no additional phase or amplitude 220
modulation, which can physically remove the intractable modulation dispersion. As a re- 221
sult, even though it is designed for a specific frequency (𝑓0 = 1.5 MHz), the proposed 222
ASM should be feasible for a broadband hologram. Although the modulation dispersion 223
has been removed, the intrinsic propagation dispersion [40] is provided by the propaga- 224
tion kernel e−i𝑘0𝑅𝑚,𝑛 ⁄𝑅𝑚,𝑛 in Equation (1) describing the diffraction of a PS located at 225
𝐺𝑚,𝑛 . In principle, propagation dispersion cannot be eliminated, but it primarily affects a 226
hologram's imaging position and does not result in significant distortions or aberrations 227
in the reconstructed holographic image [40-42]. The imaging distance (𝑧) from a hologram 228
varies with the radiation frequency (𝑓) and follows the mathematical relationship [42] 229
2𝜋𝑓 2𝜋𝑓0
(√(𝑥𝑚,𝑛 − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦𝑚,𝑛 − 𝑦)2 + 𝑧 2 − 𝑧) = (√(𝑥𝑚,𝑛 − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦𝑚,𝑛 − 𝑦)2 + 𝑧0 2 − 𝑧0 ) 230
𝑐0 𝑐0
Under the paraxial approximation, the mathematical relationship can be simply expressed 231
as [42] 232
𝑧 𝑧0
= (2) 233
𝑓 𝑓0
indicating that as the frequency increases, the imaging distance increases linearly. 234
The sound energy distributions in the image planes [according to Equation (2), the 235
imaging distances (𝑧) can be calculated as 60𝜆0 , 80𝜆0 , 100𝜆0 , 144𝜆0 , 180𝜆0 , and 240𝜆0 , 236
respectively] of the ASM-based hologram are calculated using the numerical simulation 237
when the incident frequencies (𝑓) are, respectively, 𝑓0 ⁄2, 𝑓0 ⁄1.5, 𝑓0 ⁄1.2, 1.2𝑓0 , 1.5𝑓0, and 238
2𝑓0 , as shown in Figure 5a-5f. The figures show that the imaging effects in the six image 239
planes are quite good. The graph (Figure 6) of RMSE against frequency further shows that 240
in the studied frequency range, all RMSE values between holographic images and the de- 241
sired image shown in Figure 2(a) are modest and nearly constant. 242
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 9

243
Figure 5. Acoustic broadband holographic imaging. The normalized sound energy distributions in 244
the image planes of the ASM-based hologram are calculated using the numerical simulation when 245
the incident frequencies (𝑓) are 𝑓0 ⁄2, 𝑓0 ⁄1.5, 𝑓0 ⁄1.2, 1.2𝑓0 , 1.5𝑓0 , and 2𝑓0 , respectively. The imag- 246
ing distances (𝑧) are 60𝜆0, 80𝜆0 , 100𝜆0 , 144𝜆0 , 180𝜆0 , and 240𝜆0 , respectively. 247

248
Figure 6. Graph of RMSE against frequency. The RMSE values between holographic images and the 249
desired image shown in Figure 2(a) are calculated using the numerical simulation. The studied fre- 250
quency range is from 𝑓0 ⁄2 to 2𝑓0 . 251

5. Conclusions 252
In conclusion, a zero-thickness broadband hologram is proposed and comprehen- 253
sively investigated. We offer a design approach for an ASM capable of achieving the zero- 254
thickness broadband hologram in theory. The ASM is a hole-filled zero-thickness rigid 255
screen. A genetic algorithm and the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld theory be used to get the ar- 256
rangement rules of holes in ASM. It will have no thickness restriction as long as the ASM- 257
based hologram is sufficiently rigid in comparison to the background medium, and it can 258
theoretically approach zero thickness. The intractable modulation dispersion can also be 259
physically avoided because the wave from a hole has no extra phase or amplitude modu- 260
lation, allowing the proposed ASM-based hologram to possibly function in any frequency 261
band as long as the condition of paraxial approximation is satisfied. However, because 262
propagation dispersion cannot be eliminated, one disadvantage is that the imaging dis- 263
tance from a hologram varies with the radiation frequency. We achieve broadband holo- 264
graphic imaging with an excellent effect in the megahertz ultrasonic frequency band by 265
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 9

using numerical simulation. The proposed zero-thickness broadband hologram could 266
open up new possibilities for expanding application scenarios of acoustic holography. 267

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Shu-Yu Zuo; Data curation, Ye Tian; Formal analysis, Ye 268
Tian; Funding acquisition, Ye Tian and Jianzhong Guo; Investigation, Ye Tian and Shu-Yu Zuo; 269
Project administration, Shu-Yu Zuo and Jianzhong Guo; Resources, Jianzhong Guo; Software, Ye 270
Tian; Supervision, Jianzhong Guo; Validation, Qian Lv and Guanjun Yin; Visualization, Qian Lv 271
and Guanjun Yin; Writing – original draft, Ye Tian and Shu-Yu Zuo; Writing – review & editing, Ye 272
Tian. 273

Funding: This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 274
numbers 11904221, 12104284, 12004237, 12034005 and 11727813), the China National Postdoctoral 275
Program for Innovative Talents (grant number BX20190193), the China Postdoctoral Science Foun- 276
dation (grant numbers 2019M663612 and 2020M683416), the Fundamental Research Funds for the 277
Central Universities (grant numbers GK202103017, TD2020009Z and 2020TS023), and the High-level 278
Talent Fund of Henan University of Technology (grant number 31401242). 279

Acknowledgments: we would like to extend our deep gratitude to all those who have offered cor- 280
dial and selfless support in writing this article. 281

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. 282

283

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