Evaluating Directional Resolution of Aplanatic Acoustic Lens for Designing Ambient Noise Imaging System

Abstract

In our previous studies, it was verified that a spherical biconcave lens with an aperture diameter of 2.0 m has a sufficient directional resolution (e.g., a beam width of 1° at 60 kHz) for realizing an ambient noise imaging (ANI) system. In this study, an aplanatic lens that corrects both spherical and coma aberrations with the same aperture was designed for an ANI system, and its directional resolution was evaluated. First, in order to predict the resolution, we performed a numerical analysis using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Second, the numerical analysis results were verified by a small-scale trial of one-fifth of full size in a water tank. The shapes of the -3 dB areas were similar between the numerical analysis and experimental results at small incidence angles, and the -3 dB areas do not overlap at 1° increments of incidence angle. The resolution of the aplanatic lens was closer to that of an ideal lens than to that of the spherical lens. Finally, it was satisfied that the present lens has sufficient directional resolution for use in an ANI system.