Numerical method for tilt compensation in scanning acoustic microscopy

Acoustic microscopy has found various applications from nondestructive testing (NDT) to medical imaging for quantitative information. Scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) used for imaging and sample preparation have significant bearing on the conclusions drawn. In most cases while scanning the sample, there appear lots of artifacts due to the presence of an inclination offset between the focal plane and the sample surface, which often leads to wrong conclusions. In this paper, we have demonstrated a novel algorithm which can correct this offset in post-processing, which contributes to more accurate quantitative information and qualitatively better images of the sample. The correction is performed for both the amplitudes as well as the time-of-flight. The proposed algorithm was tested in simulation as well as through experimentation for sensitivity and accuracy. The results are presented and they indicate significant correction of inclination with small error margins. The application of these algorithms can be found in real-time image processing a lot of industries as well as in research.