Scanning laser acoustic microscope with digital data acquisition

A scanning laser acoustic microscope (SLAM) is described. The SLAM achieves a resolution of about 10 μm and is capable of imaging subsurface features at depths up to several millimeters, using appropriate reconstruction algorithms. The various components of the apparatus, both acousto‐optical and electronic, are described. A major feature of the SLAM is a digital data‐acquisition system capable of storing and processing the complex acoustic field in images with 256×256‐pixel resolution. An array processor enables most floating‐point operations to be completed in a few seconds. Examples of acoustic images obtained from a test sample are presented.