Ultrasound nonlinearity parameter assessment with the plane wave imaging

Assessment of medium nonlinearity parameter in pulse-echo mode usually demands information on the second harmonic. However, the acquisition of quantitative data on backscattered amplitude at the fundamental and second harmonic components is difficult using the same probe due to its limited bandwidth. In this paper we propose how to assess medium nonlinearity using only the fundamental harmonic and the plane wave imaging. We utilize the fact that the backscattered echo amplitude at the fundamental is not linearly proportional to the initial plane wave amplitude. This relation is modified due to the wave nonlinear propagation.