An ultrasound imaging system (100; 200), comprising: a transducer , including: an array of a plurality of transducer elements configured to emit ultrasonic signals that traverse an object in an imaging field of view and to receive echoes generated in response to an interaction between the ultrasonic signals and the object, wherein the transducer has a focus in a range of ten to twenty centimeters with a f-number of five or less; transmit circuitry configured to generate a first set of first excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit first ultrasonic signals and, after a predetermined time delay, a second set of second excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit second ultrasonic signals; receive circuitry configured to receive first echoes generated in response to the first set of first excitation pulses and to extract a first set of harmonic components from the first echoes, and to receive second echoes generated in response to the second set of second excitation and to extract a second set of harmonic components from the second echoes; and a beamformer configured to beamform the extracted first set of harmonic components producing first intermediate data and to beamform the extracted second set of harmonic components producing second intermediate data; characterized in that the transmit circuitry is configured to sequentially excite groups of two or more transducer elements with the first set of first excitation pulses and two or more transducer elements with the second set of second excitation pulses, exciting all of the transducer elements in each set of excitation pulses; and in that the receive circuitry is configured to receive the first echoes at a first sub-set of the transducer elements, and to receive the second echoes at a second different sub-set of the transducer elements. a transducer , including: an array of a plurality of transducer elements configured to emit ultrasonic signals that traverse an object in an imaging field of view and to receive echoes generated in response to an interaction between the ultrasonic signals and the object, wherein the transducer has a focus in a range of ten to twenty centimeters with a f-number of five or less; transmit circuitry configured to generate a first set of first excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit first ultrasonic signals and, after a predetermined time delay, a second set of second excitation pulses that excites the plurality of transducer elements to emit second ultrasonic signals; receive circuitry configured to receive first echoes generated in response to the first set of first excitation pulses and to extract a first set of harmonic components from the first echoes, and to receive second echoes generated in response to the second set of second excitation and to extract a second set of harmonic components from the second echoes; and a beamformer configured to beamform the extracted first set of harmonic components producing first intermediate data and to beamform the extracted second set of harmonic components producing second intermediate data; characterized in that the transmit circuitry is configured to sequentially excite groups of two or more transducer elements with the first set of first excitation pulses and two or more transducer elements with the second set of second excitation pulses, exciting all of the transducer elements in each set of excitation pulses; and in that the receive circuitry is configured to receive the first echoes at a first sub-set of the transducer elements, and to receive the second echoes at a second different sub-set of the transducer elements. <EOS>