Patent ID: 8911376

Claim:
An electroacoustic transducer assembly for emitting and receiving acoustic radiation beams, the assembly comprising: an array of electroacoustic transducers composed of a plurality of individual transducer elements each one being made of an electroacoustic element; a contact electrode associated with each transducer element, the contact electrodes are constructed and arranged to input an excitation signal to excite the transducer element corresponding to the emission of an acoustic signal and to receive an electric reception signal corresponding to an acoustic signal impinging on the corresponding transducer element; a connection line connected to each contact electrode, the connection line is constructed and arranged to transmit/receive the electric excitation signal or the electric reception signal, respectively; a ground electrode connected to each transducer element, the transducer elements are supported by an acoustically and electrically insulating material into which the transducer elements are at least partially embedded; and a plurality of defocusing elements, there being a separate defocusing element associated with each transducer element of said plurality, each defocusing element is constructed and arranged for defocusing a radiation pulse emitted from its corresponding transducer element to cause the radiation pulse to generate a substantially cylindrical or spherical acoustic field.